Can You Feel My Heart
by sangheilitat117
Summary: Can you hear the silence, can you see the dark? Can you fix the broken, can you feel my heart? Can you help the hopeless? Well, I'm begging on my knees, can you save my bastard soul? Will you wait for me? The story of Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee, and how they fell in love.
1. Prologue - Shattered Moon

_**In your lifetime you will find and meet one person who will love you more than anybody you have ever known and will know. They will love you with every bit of energy and soul. They will sacrifice, surrender and give so much that it scares you. Someday you'll know who that is. **_

* * *

_It's the world I've grown to know  
Unforgiving and so cold  
Take it away  
Take it away  
I don't want it_

_It's a life I'm forced to live_  
_I've got nothing more to give_  
_Take it away_  
_Take it away_  
_I don't want it anymore_

* * *

Weiss Schnee sat at a massive, ornate dinner table in a grand hall, methodically and gracefully cutting her meal into proper portions with precisely the right utensil. The crystal chandelier hanging overhead was outrageously expensive, and yet it felt crushingly oppressive to her.

_"Salad fork on the left, dinner fork besides the plate. To the right, knife, salad knife, spoon, soup spoon, then oyster fork. Cut the meat slowly, make it small and un-presumptuous. Don't make eye contact. Don't speak unless spoken to. Hold your bearing." _

"-isn't that right Weiss?" The man seated at the head of the table asked. He was tall and thin, and his eyes were cruel and full of malice. His gaze was expectant, and the silence seemed to hang in the air while he waited for her response.

"Yes dear. You're quite correct." Her voice was bland and dry; she was simply going through the motions of being the proper wife. _Of being the proper slave._

"Hmmph. Of course I am. Now like I was saying, red dust prices are actually _falling_ with the turn of the season and with the new advances in..."

She tuned her husband out as she focused on eating her dinner the proper way.

_"Don't make eye contact. Don't speak unless spoken to. Hold your bearing."_

After all, her husband was entertaining guests, and if she acted improperly she knew he would hit her again. And as much as it pained her to admit, he was getting worse. The painful slaps were steadily evolving into bruising punches, and she knew that real beatings would soon follow after that, as the man solidified his position as head of the Schnee family more and more. He had recently married into the family, her father more satisfied than ever before, now that he knew his legacy would continue, that his investment had finally paid off. That's all she was to him.

_An investment._

She was her husband's slave now, completely at his beck and call. She had become a boot-licking, cowering, subservient _sycophant_, and she hated it with every fragment of her remaining willpower. She couldn't resist him; it was too late now. The consequences were too horrible to think of, he would have her disowned, humiliated, and most likely killed. That is, after he was done with her, done punishing her his own way. The man had a sadistic streak a mile wide.

She shuddered imperceptibly, thinking back, wondering just how her life had become this despicable farce. After she had finished her education as a Huntress at Beacon Academy, she had returned to the world of politics and backstabbing from whence she came. Promptly, her father had married her off to another wealthy family, just as she knew he would. He was dying, and he wanted to ensure his line would continue on, that Schnee Dust would persist as the world's foremost provider of dust and dust-related products. He hadn't given a second thought for her well-being.

Ruby had begged her not to go, she had sobbed and tried to drag her back and to...

Wait... Ruby...

Ruby.

_Ruby!_

* * *

Weiss woke from her nightmare with a sudden start, sitting up suddenly and almost hitting her head on the bunk hanging from ropes above her. Where Ruby lay, sound asleep. In their room, back at Beacon Academy. Halfway through their third year.

She shuddered, the horrible vision of what might come to be refusing to leave her tortured mind. She glanced at the clock on the nightstand, noticing in passing that her delicately pale skin was coated in a slight sheen of sweat.

4:16 AM. She still had a few hours before classes. The shattered moon shone in through the window, highlighting her snow-white hair and lending it an unearthly glow.

She laid back down, shifted slightly, and attempted to return to sleep. But still, the memories would not leave her. She felt anxious, as she always did when thinking about her fate after Beacon. What would become of her? What would become of Ruby? She had found something here, something she had never experienced before. Something she didn't want to give up.

Friendship, warmth, laughter, the camaraderie that came with having a small group of tight-knit friends. And the trust that came with being someone's partner in the heat of combat, knowing that you would give your life for them and that they would do the same for you. Over the years, she and Ruby had grown incredibly close, both as partners and friends. They still teased each other, and Weiss still called her a dolt, and a dunce, and a colossal idiot, but it was all just that. Teasing. Weiss treasured Ruby, she was the older girls first and best friend. And as much as Weiss still lectured Ruby on her combat skills, and her studies, and her eating habits, and her mannerisms, and her, well you get the idea. All that aside, Weiss knew she would be lying to herself if she didn't admit that Ruby was quickly growing in to one of the best Huntresses the world of Remnant had ever seen.

But still, the brunette held a small amount of mystery to her. There was something about Ruby, just being around her was enough to soothe her anxieties and worries,and fill her with a strange feeling of warmth and peace. Sometimes, being near Ruby even served to make her heart beat slightly faster, and her blood to pump through her body with more force than usual. She figured that was just what happened though, when two people were as close as they were. Partners, both in combat and out of it.

She didn't want it to ever end, she didn't want to ever be apart from Ruby. She had imagined, and already experienced a world without Ruby, and it wasn't one she wanted to be a part of. She hadn't realized it before, but looking back she saw that her life had been filled with loneliness and bitter cold. She had been raised by her tutors and her maids, all of whom had been instructed to only interact with her just as much as was necessary. As for her parents, she only saw them when they needed something or when they wished to instruct her on the importance she held to the Schnee Dust company. But she had always found herself wondering, did she hold any importance to them as a person? As their daughter? As a young girl growing up with no friends and no one to confide in, she had grown bitter and harsh, slow to trust and quick to anger.

And then things had changed. She met a girl. A clumsy, impulsive, kind, caring, wonderfully sweet girl named Ruby Rose. And for some strange reason, this girl seemingly wanted nothing more than to become friends with her. But she had met people like that before. The memories were sour in her mind, the ones of her so-called "friends." So Weiss had done her best, week after week, month after month to push her away, certain that the brunette was only interested in her because of her status as heiress to the richest company in the world. But that had been years ago. Now, things were different. Ruby had broken down her walls and shown her how to live. She had shown her how to laugh at someone else's jokes, to be patient with someone else's shortcomings, and to be proud of someone else's success.

Being around Ruby felt so different from everywhere and everyone else. To the rest of the world, she was Miss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. They all expected something from her. For her to act proper, for her to curtsy at the expected times, for her to be the best at everything she did. And that's where Ruby was different. The younger girl didn't expect _anything_ from her. To her, she was simply Weiss, her partner and her best friend. And she seemed happy simply to be around her.

Weiss truly felt as if she was a different person now, and so much so for the better. Now that she knew what life was really like, she never wanted to go back to the bitter and uncaring world of... well, Schnee. She knew her parents would eventually force her into a marriage she didn't want any part of; her desires and dreams came after the well-being of the company. When she was younger, before she knew any better, she had begrudgingly accepted it.

But now she knew, because of being exposed to different views and walks of life. She knew that her parents forcing her to marry someone that she didn't love was _wrong_. And yet she continued sending them weekly status reports, full of her successes and achievements. She knew the second that they felt that their investment was being wasted, they would pull her out of the school. She was walking on thin ice. And she was tired of it.

Through it all, Ruby was her rock. It had taken her a long time to open up, until she felt comfortable enough around Ruby to let the other girl in, to burden her with the story of her life and her troubles. But Ruby had waited patiently with that same honest smile she always wore. She became her solid ground, the person she could confess her fears and her worries to. And Ruby would simply listen with a caring and understanding smile on her face, the same one that made the heiress feel strangely warm on the inside. Ruby was the first and only person she had ever let in, and the thought made her happy.

So as she lay there in her bed, trying in vain to shut out the nightmarish visions of what her life would be like after she left Beacon, and left Ruby, she knew that there was only one thing that would soothe her trouble mind.

Carefully, she slipped out of her sheets and stood up on her toes, her head barely reaching over the edge of Ruby's top bunk. And there she was, Ruby Rose, huntress-in-training. The moon shone through the curtains, illuminating one half of Ruby and hiding the other in shadow. She gripped Ruby's bed with her fingers, holding herself in place so that she could gaze upon her leader. Weiss ran her eyes up and down the younger girl's sleeping form, tracing its contours and curves even as she felt heat rising to her cheeks.

_"This is... okay... It's normal for partners to want to know more about eachother... even eachother's bodies... right?"_

The girl had grown during their time at beacon, in more ways that one. She was much taller, coming in at almost six feet. She had also grown in the... chest area. She would never admit it, but Weiss was quite jealous of Ruby's growth. In both areas. She was still just as short as ever, and just as, well, you get the idea.

The brunette lay on her back, one arm behind her head and the other laid across her chest. She breathed slowly, her chest rising and falling peacefully. She was still wearing the same sleepwear as always: a black tank top and a pair of pink-spotted white pajama pants. No matter how many times Weiss had attempted to persuade her to buy new pajamas, she never listened. Ruby tended to form strong attachments to things, even things as trivial as clothes or pencils.

The simple sight of her partner and friend sleeping peacefully was enough to ease her troubled mind. A small smile graced her face. At that point in time, everything seemed alright, no matter what the future had in store. She stayed that way for a few minutes, lost in the moment. Something about Ruby made her feel calm, even safe in a way. Maybe it was the scent of roses that seemed to constantly emanate from her.

Her legs eventually grew tired though, and she slowly lowered herself down to her own bed. Slipping back under the covers and laying sideways, she realized that she felt calm now. Even though the clock now read 4:27AM, she knew that the few remaining hours of sleep she got would be dreamless and peaceful. Sighing softly, she rested her head upon her pillow and slowly drifted off to sleep. The last conscious thought on her mind was of how blessed she was to have met Ruby. Not that she would ever admit it to anyone though, least of all the brunette herself.

Still... no one would hear her now, right? Everyone else was fast asleep...

"Thank you, Ruby," she whispered.

* * *

_**This takes place within the little AU I came up with; this is basically the prequel to Bloodbirds and A White Nebula. Same Ruby and same Weiss, same Blake and same Yang. I apologize for this being only two thousands words, I normally try to keep my chapters between five and seven thousand. But this is a prologue, an attention-grabber and a stage-setter, and I felt right about putting this out. Also, this story is my chance to kill off Sun and Neptune. Because Monty doesn't know what he's doing by not making Bumblebee canon, and I have to remedy that. (evil laughter) **_

_**It's gonna be rated T, there will be violence but nothing too graphic. No lemons of course, even if the themes might get a little *gasp* suggestive.**_

_**The lyrics in the description are from "Can You Feel My Heart" by Bring Me The Horizon. Oh, and the lyrics from the beginning are from the song "Generation Dead" by Five Finger Death Punch. They were really what inspired my view of how Weiss is bitter and jaded with the world she's forced to live in. DON'T take these bands as an indication of my musical preferences, I listen to heavier and more obscure stuff than that. **_

_**The cover pic is by Aelynth from tumblr, thanks so much!**_

_**Any feedback is welcome, ways I can improve, little errors I missed, etc.**_

_**Please review!**_


	2. Chapter 1 - Denial

Mmm, sleep. Sleep was sooo nice. Was there really anything better than being wrapped in warm sheets and blankets while the world outside slumbered? That feeling of knowing that you didn't have to get up anytime soon, that you could sleep just as long as you wante-

~BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP~

Ruby groaned in frustration, reaching out her hand and smashing it down onto her scroll in a delusional attempt to stop the ear-shattering alarm. Why wasn't her password working? She sat up in an attempt to get a clear view of the screen, so that she could make proper use of the infernal device and its rarely-functioning touchpad. Typing in the code quickly, she ducked her head, a pillow thrown from the other side of the room narrowly missing her. Finally, the incessant beeping stopped.

"Alright alright Yang, it's..." she covered her mouth as she let out a long and drawn-out yawn, "it's off now. Happy?"

The blonde simply grunted and muttered something inaudible from her spot in Blake's bed, where she currently lay with her arms wrapped around her faunus girlfriend. Even in her tired, half-awake state, the sight brought a small smile to Ruby's face.

She flopped backwards onto her bed, knowing that she had to start getting ready for classes, but wanting to spend as much time as possible doing exactly the opposite. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, running the risk that they might not open again. She heard movement from below her, and then a sharp flick to her forehead brought her out of her reverie.

"Owww," she muttered. Weiss was standing on her own bed, bringing her face level with Ruby's. The brunette swallowed in apprehension as she momentarily lost herself in the other girl's gorgeous ice blue eyes.

_"Not now Ruby, holy crap you haven't even gotten out of bed yet!" _

"You woke me up too you dolt. Now get up, we are _not_ going to be late for class again."

"Oh come on, we weren't really late. Professor Merlin hadn't even started the class yet."

"That's because he was waiting for us! Now get! Out of bed, let's go!"

Ruby groaned and rolled off her bunk, barely managing to catch herself on the edge of it as Weiss shrieked in surprise. She hung on for a few seconds, giving the heiress time to scramble out from under her. Ruby then let herself drop, lying flat on her back on the floor.

"Weiiiiss, drag me to the bathroooomm..."

"N-no you useless thing! Do it yourself!"

The brunette sighed pitifully, and began to slowly inch her way towards the bathroom, moving herself by pushing off with her legs and sliding along the floor on her back.

Weiss simply stood there in her nightgown, unable to comprehend the scene before her. She remembered a time when Ruby had been the first one awake, blowing her infuriating whistle and urging the rest of the team to get up. Those days had passed however. Her enthusiasm had faded; Ruby had simply grown tired of waking up so early on weekdays. Such a thing tended to happen after one was forced to wake up early for three years in a row.

"Since when did you become part worm? I guess it figures though, you accomplish just about as much as one of those disgusting creatures does in its lifetime."

Ruby gave no reply as she drew closer and closer to the bathroom.

Huffing in exasperation and brushing some loose strands of hair out of her face, Weiss turned to the rest of team RWBY, who were apparently still sound asleep.

"Blake, Yang, it's time to get up."

No response.

She walked closer, skin tingling at the warmth that Yang exuded while she was wrapped around Blake. A small part of Weiss was intensely jealous of the faunus girl, envious that she had someone who would do that for her, would hold her close at night and keep her warm during those lonely hours.

"Yang. Blake. Get up."

Still nothing.

She sighed, knowing there was only one thing she had to fall back on, and fully aware of the possible consequences. An heiress has to do what an heiress has to do, however. She strode across the room to her dresser and pulled out a pair of scissors, a menacing glint in her eyes. She walked back over to her two teammates, and carefully, ever so carefully, pinched a small lock of Yang's hair in between her thumb and forefinger. She brought the scissors up to it. She opened the blades, and they made a small sound.

***shunk***

A fist exploded out from the bundle of blankets on Blake's bed, one that Weiss barely managed to dodge as she threw herself sideways. Yang leaped out of bed, taking up her boxing stance and readying herself to fend off any and all challengers. Her eyes roamed the room, narrowing as they alighted upon the scissors that Weiss held.

"You got a death wish Schnee?" All trace of sleep in her voice was gone.

"Hmmph. As if I would ever allow myself to be beaten by a simple brute like you," Weiss said with an up-turned nose.

"Oh I didn't say beaten. I used the word death for a reason," Yang replied with a sadistic grin. "Ruby! Sorry but I'm about to kill your girlfriend!"

A muffled cry of "She is not my girlfriend!" came from the closed bathroom door.

Weiss tried and failed to keep a blush from forming on her pale features, coloring her face with its intensity. That could never happen, not in a million years. For one, she wasn't a lesbian. She simply _wasn't_. She could only imagine what her parents would do if she came out. And two, she didn't like Ruby like that. At least, that's what she told herself every time her heart beat faster around her partner.

She chucked the scissors at Yang, who fell over laughing as she struggled to support herself on Blake's bed. The faunus was awake at this point, and she watched the proceedings from her little blanket cave, her golden eyes glimmering in the shadows.

"Oh man, you are way too easy Princess!"

Weiss marched right past her, muttering a choice selection of insults under her breath as she passed the blonde. In her embarrassment, she had forgotten that the bathroom was currently occupied, and she flung the door open in her haste. And there was Ruby, in her panties and nothing else, with a shocked expression on her face as she tried to cover her ample chest.

"H-heya Weiss..."

The heiress slammed the door shut, speed-walked to her bed and covered her head with her pillow. Her face was redder than a tomato.

Yang was crying tears of laughter at this point.

* * *

"~Breakfast time, breakfast time, come on everybody it's breakfast time~" Ruby sang as she led the way down the hallways of Beacon Academy. Her teammates walked with her, on their collective way to Beacon's cafeteria for the best meal of the day. Yang held Blake's hand, and Weiss walked slightly behind Ruby as they followed the tide of hungry students.

"Ooh, I'm gonna get pancakes, and a sausage patty, and eggs, and- oh I hope they have apples today!"

"Great Ruby, now you jinxed it for everyone," Yang laughed. "Watch, it's gonna be pears."

Ruby stuck her tongue out in disgust, "Ew... they've got those nasty little pellet things inside them."

"Those are called sclereids," Weiss interrupted. "They protect the seeds of the pear so that fruit-eating animals don't eat them all. And they're certainly healthier for you than cookies."

"Yeah, but eating cookies doesn't make it feel like there's sand in my mouth."

"Keep up your eating habits, and one day it will. You'll need dentures, mark my words."

"She's probably right Ruby," Blake said. "I'm constantly amazed that you've somehow managed to avoid cavities so far."

"Oh, so now you're on her side?!" Ruby exclaimed, as she narrowly avoided colliding with a bull faunus heading the other way. "Sorry!"

"The only side I'm on is my own," Blake replied. Yang shot her a hurt look, but the twinkle in the faunus' eyes and the squeeze she gave her hand quashed her worries.

"Ruby versus the world, round one!" The brunette cried. After a few seconds of silence, she turned to her partner. "So Weiss, why are we so grumpy today anyway? Don't you remember what today is?"

"Ooh, let me guess, don't tell me," the white-haired girl replied. "It's... friday," she finished, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"No silly, this is the day when we move into our new rooms, remember? It'll be just me and you!"

"Oh, r-right." For some reason, the thought of sharing a room with Ruby and only Ruby made her nervous. Which was strange, because she'd been partners with the girl for almost three years already. She felt heat rising to her cheeks yet again, and not for the first time she bemoaned her pale complexion and how visible it made her blushes. She pushed forward, walking in front of the others so that they couldn't see her face. "Now if you'll stop dilly-dallying, I'd like to actually eat breakfast before they close."

Ruby fell back a bit, taking the opportunity to observe the heiress while she walked. The white-haired girl sashayed her hips from side to side, ponytail bouncing in time with her movements. She swung her arms back and forth, and it went nicely with the pointed clicks her heels made on the tiled floor.

_"Wooowww, she's so beautiful..."_ Ruby thought to herself.

"See somethin' ya like?" Yang whispered in her ear.

Ruby jumped, blushing intensely as she stared straight ahead. "W-what are you talking about, hah hah! I just really like the way they did the walls in this hallway..."

"Could've fooled me" Yang said with a knowing smirk. "It looked like you were looking at Weiss."

"Don't be silly Yang," Ruby finished as they entered the cafeteria proper, glancing around to find Team JNPR waving them over to a half empty table. "It's nothing."

Yang followed, but turned to share a mischievous grin with Blake. In all honestly, the only people who weren't aware of the attraction between Ruby and Weiss, were Ruby and Weiss.

* * *

Ruby plopped her tray down on the table, barely managing to catch her apple before it rolled off. "Hi guys!" She greeted warmly. The background noise of the cafeteria was comfortable, a constant reminder that they were not the only students attending Beacon Academy. However, the dark stone walls and dim lighting were quite the opposite. They seemed almost as if they would be the setting for some great and terrible battle.

"Heya Ruby!" Nora responded, as the rest of Team RWBY set their trays down. "How's the morning going?"

"Eh, same as usual. What about you guys?"

"Nora was actually quiet for once. Until now. Thanks," Ren dryly stated.

"Oh please, I know you get all sad when I don't chat up your ear-holes!" Nora said, as she flung her arms around Ren, who just continued to eat tater-tots with his fork. If one looked hard enough however, they would notice the beginnings of a smile on his face.

"Juane and I have had a pleasant morning so far. We rose early and got our training out of the way," Pyrrha said. Jaune nodded his head in agreement; his mouth was currently full of a sausage-egg hash.

"Yeesh, it's like everyone gets up early these days except for us. I don't know how you all do it, I need my beauty sleep," Yang said with a large grin.

"Technically," Blake interjected, "it's not beauty sleep if you snore during the course of it."

"Hey!"

"...That's it?" Blake asked. "Hey? Couldn't think of a better come-back than that?"

"Well... maybe if you give me a bit," Yang replied sullenly.

"Seriously? Yang Xiao Long, the pun queen herself, lord of wit and snarky banter, is speechless? Oh, how the mighty have falle-"

Yang pressed a kiss to the faunus' mouth, grabbing the collar of her uniform and pulling her into it. She then let go, leaving the other girl flustered and struggling for breath.

She smirked. "Now who's speechless?"

"Yang, not in the middle of all these people..."

"Had to shut you up somehow," she said, with a bright smile that somehow served to calm the faunus down.

"Oh really?" Blake replied. "Well you're gonna pay for that later."

"I'm quaking in my boots."

"You would be if you knew what was coming."

"Hmm. We'll see about that. Oh, look everyone, it's Beacon's weirdest couple."

All eyes seemingly went to Ruby and Weiss, which sent them scooting away from each other with panicked expressions.

"She's not-"

"We're not-"

"Wow, calm down you two, I was talking about the people behind you. Gosh, you two really are so easy," Yang said with a laugh.

"Oh, r-right," Ruby laughed. She looked behind her, only to see Penny pop a tater tot into Velvet Scarlatina's open mouth.

"I have no clue how they got together," Jaune said.

Nora smiled at the pair. "Yeah, no one really knows, but they're cute anyway."

No one else saw, but Ruby and Weiss both snuck a glance at each other at the same time, both quickly looking away when they locked eyes with each other.

Well, no one but Yang saw. The blonde smirked as she looked down at her food, wondering if she should bring up the topic with Ruby, or wait until Ruby brought it up on her own. Probably option one, she didn't know if her younger sister would be bold enough to seek help on her own, for a problem that she didn't even acknowledge as existing in the first place.

"Clueless, clueless Ruby," she whispered to herself. Yang's opinion of the irritable heiress was still not exactly favorable, but she was Ruby's partner, so that was enough for her. And she made Ruby happy, for the time being at least. So for now, she would tolerate their clueless excuse for a relationship. Still, she reminded herself, she had raised Ruby. Her younger sister was _hers_, and whoever wanted to take her away would be in for a fight.

_"Do your worst, Weiss Schnee."_

* * *

Ruby sighed in satisfaction, flopping backwards onto her new bed. Classes were done for the day, and Ruby and Weiss had just finished moving into their new room. Only first and second year teams had to share one room with all four members; third and fourth year students were given smaller rooms to share with their partners. Most of the other third year students had already switched over, but due to construction delays, Team RWBY was just now receiving theirs.

The dorm she was now sharing with Weiss was small, but not cramped, cozy and not constricting in the slightest. There was a bed on either wall, with a large, wide window taking up most of the space between the beds. At the foot of each bed was the entrance to a closet, each one capable of holding all the outfits the two girls would require. The walls were the strangest part of the room though; they were all painted a light, stormy grey.

"I dunno Weiss, don't you think the color is a little... depressing?"

"No, I happen to like it," the heiress said as she finished straightening the white sheets of her own bed.

"You like it?" Ruby parroted. "Why?"

"...I've just always liked that color. Nothing special." She couldn't bring herself to say that they matched Ruby's eyes, and that's why she refused to paint them another color. "Shouldn't you be unpacking anyway, instead of lounging around?"

"Sheesh Princess, I already finished."

"You know not to call me that."

"I'll call you whatever I want," Ruby replied snarkily.

"Alright then, go ahead. Just don't be surprised if every box of cookies you bring in here disappears without a trace," Weiss said as she finished and sat on the edge of her bed.

Ruby sat up, an expression of horror on her face "You wouldn't!"

The heiress simply smiled back, a wicked thing with no trace of warmth. "Try me."

Ruby let herself fall back again, flinging her arms out to either side. "I admit defeat..."

"Good. Now, are you ready for training?"

_"Oh no she's not,"_ Ruby frantically thought to herself. _"This is gonna be the perfect weekend, she is not ruining this."_

The brunette vanished in a cloud of rose petals, appearing right next to Weiss. The startled girl jumped, and found a warm finger pressed to her lips.

"No. Nope, naw, nah, negatory, negative, no sir, no sir-_ee_, no, nonono, no, no. No. We are noooot, going to do any combat training this weekend. You agreed to go in town with me, remember! We haven't been in like two whole months!"

"Yes, but we need to-"

"Uh uh uh! No buts! We're going out tonight, and that's final," Ruby said, as she firmly crossed her arms over her chest.

_"G-going out? Like a date?"_ Weiss thought to herself. _"No, that's absolutely preposterous. My reputation would be ruined. This is just two friends hanging out on the weekend."_

It wasn't really anything new, they had taken jaunts out from Beacon before the weekends. But this was the first time Ruby had, unknowingly or not, referred to it as a date.

"Well... I suppose I wouldn't be particularly opposed to it or anything... but that means you're studying extra hard on Saturday!"

"Sunday."

"Saturday!"

"Sunnndaaayy," Ruby drawled with a grin. "I'm just gonna relax on Saturday, and you're just gonna have to deal with it. But I promise you," she said as she got down on her knees, clasped her hands together and put on her best puppy dog stare, "we'll study super uper duper hard on Sunday. Deal?"

Weiss stared down at her, her left eyebrow twitching angrily. She tried her best to resist, she really did. But one simply couldn't say no to Ruby when she sounded that sincere, that honest.

"...Deal."

"Yaaay!" Ruby leapt up, tackling Weiss backwards onto her bed and hugging her tightly. "We're gonna have so much fun in Vale City-"

"D-dolt! Get off me!" Weiss shrieked. It was happening again, she could feel her heart-rate speed up and blood rush to her face, and she prayed that Ruby wouldn't notice. The brunette held her for a few extra moments, and Weiss found it almost difficult to think. Right before it would have become awkward, Ruby released the heiress and drew back.

"Heh, sorry. I'm just really happy and excited for tonight."

"...It's fine."

_"Really?"_ Weiss thought to herself._ "It's fine? No comeback, no scolding, no snappy remarks? Ugh, you're losing your touch. But it's too late to say anything else now..."_

Ruby walked back over to her own bed, sitting on top of it and leaning back against the wall.

"This room is pretty nice, huh? Ooh, but we need some decorations. I'm thinking some roses-"

"Ooh, big surprise there," Weiss interrupted sarcastically.

"Don't you get sassy with me Princess," Ruby said as she wiggled her finger back and forth comically. "I bet you'd just put snowflakes everywhere if you could."

"I was actually going to suggest we paint the ceiling a dark blue, and somehow draw stars and planets on it. That way when we sleep and look up, it'll be like gazing at the night sky."

"Huh. That's actually a really good idea. We can do it on Sunday!"

"You are not _seriously_ trying to get out of studying already are you?"

"Eh heh, alright. We can save it for next weekend," Ruby sheepishly agreed.

Weiss stood up. "Good. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get changed if we're heading into town tonight."

"Oh, right! Whatcha' gonna wear?"

"That's hardly any of your business," Weiss replied with a smirk as she leaned against the door-frame to the bathroom. "You'll see when I'm done. Now hurry up, I want to make the four o'clock airship."

"Ugh, you and your deadlines."

"I'm sorry, but if we're going to go in to town we're going to spend more than just an hour there. By the way, what do you have in mind while we're there?"

"Well, I was hoping to go weapon shopping, and maybe even look at some decorations for our new room, and oh maybe we could do some clothes shopping, and we could see a movie, and I definitely want to eat at that pizza place that has the-"

"Ruby. You're rambling," Weiss interrupted with a smirk.

"Oh, heh. Oops. So uh, any of those sound good to you?"

"Pizza sounds nice, maybe a movie if we have time. And I suppose I _could_ take you to look at some weapon stores."

"Yay!" Ruby leapt up and wrapped Weiss in another hug, but this time she lost her footing and sent both of them toppling to the floor. The taller girl ended up lying on top of Weiss, her chest smothering the heiress.

She gave a muffled screech, and attempted to force Ruby off of her.

"OhmygodWeissImsosorry!" the brunette yelped as she rolled off of Weiss.

"You s-stupid, inconsiderate, bumbling, clumsy, oaf!" The white-haired girl scrambled to her feet and rushed into the bathroom, nearly slamming the door shut behind her.

Ruby was left leaning up against her bed, a stunned expression on her face. "Oops," she whispered to herself.

Meanwhile in the bathroom, Weiss gazed at herself in the mirror. Her heart was pounding, and that accursed blush had found its way back to her cheeks. She slowly reached up her hand to touch them softly, feeling the warmth they emanated.

_"Why does she do this to me? What is wrong with me?"_

* * *

"Hey Weiss?"

Silence greeted her as the heiress continued to stare out the window of the airship, as it continued on its course towards the city of Vale. Puffy white clouds rolled by the viewport, perfectly matching the crystal-clear blue sky.

"Are you still mad?"

Finally, she spoke. "...I'm not mad Ruby."

"You sure? You sounded pretty... upset when I accidentally tackled you. And you haven't said a word since."

"...I'm fine. Just tired is all. You know how grumpy I get when I'm tired."

"Oh... are you still okay with going into town?"

Sometimes it hit her, like right now, just how far Ruby was willing to go for her. She had yelled at Ruby, given her the silent treatment, and at the mere mention that she might be tired, her partner was immediately ready to cancel her plans and put the heiress' well-being before her own wants. And she knew Ruby very badly wanted to go out tonight. The least she could do was to try and have some fun with her partner.

Weiss turned her head and smiled at the other girl, whose face lit up with happiness at the sight.

"Yes, I'm fine. If you're looking forward to this, then I am too."

"Thanks Weiss. We're gonna have fun, I promise."

* * *

The sun hung low in the sky, shrouding the streets of Vale City in shadow and turning the clouds into streamers of burning orange and pale violet. Burning street lamps already lit the thoroughfares, lending the cobblestone streets an air of warmth and familiarity. Everyone wore happy smiles as they strode along the roadways. Couples held each other close, tourists pointed out shops and landmarks, families struggled to keep up with each other, and children shrieked with happiness as they ran through the streets.

Ruby and Weiss walked slowly down the sidewalk, taking their time and enjoying the welcoming atmosphere of the city as night gradually fell. Weiss was wearing a white sundress that flowed down to her knees with a blue ribbon around its waist, and a matching pair of white heels. Beautiful white diamond earrings framed her delicate face. Ruby was in something a little more casual: an unzipped red hoodie over a black t-shirt and a pair of black jeans. Grey sneakers completed her ensemble.

"Oh man, I can't remember the last time I had pizza that good."

"I am not a man," Weiss jokingly replied. "But I agree, the chefs of that restaurant certainly knew their craft. Every one of the ingredients was of very high quality."

"Only you could make pizza sound boring," Ruby laughed. "I mean, even your actual pizza was weird. White sauce and olives? Who eats that?"

"Who eats a pizza covered in every meat known to mankind?" Weiss shot back.

Ruby already had her comeback worked out. "The same kind of person who ever grows taller than five feet," she finished with a smirk.

Weiss gasped at her in a mix of shock and anger, unable to properly formulate a response to Ruby's under-handed tactic. So instead she simply turned up her nose and stared straight ahead as she walked.

"Oh come on Weiss, don't be mad, it was just a jokeee..."

"It was a short joke! You know better than to make short jokes about me!" The heiress turned and glared at her partner, but before she could continue her rant, she found herself swept up in Ruby's arms and twirled around the sidewalk.

She gasped and sputtered, grasping on to Ruby's forearms with a death grip.

"R-Ruby! Put me down this instant!" she shrieked.

Ruby spun her one more time, then gently set her down on the sidewalk. "But you're so cuuute Weiss, you're not short, don't worry! You're more like, fun-sized ya know!"

_"C-cute?!" _Weiss thought to herself. _"Why would she say that about me!?"_

The white-haired girl couldn't think of anything to respond with, and she wondered again why she found herself so often speechless in Ruby's presence.

She huffed and spun around, striding purposefully towards the airship station. Ruby reached out after her, jogging to keep up.

"Wait, I meant like fun-size as in how much fun you are, not that you're like a little candy bar, I just meant that you're really awesome to be around and that you're also really cool and please don't leave yet, we haven't gone to the weapons shop like you said and I just-"

Her speech was cut off as she accidentally bumped into the heiress, who had stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. People streamed to either side of her as they made their way around.

"Why do you have to be such a dunce sometimes?" Weiss asked without turning around. Instead of how she normally phrased the insult, this time she seemed to be asking it as a legitimate question.

Ruby stepped back a few feet, wringing her hands together nervously. "I dunno... I guess I just get, well, nervous around you sometimes?"

"...Nervous? Why do I make you nervous?"

"Uh... because you're... uh... really cool?" Ruby said, which was lie number one. "And I feel like I have to try really hard to be normal, otherwise you won't want to hang out with me anymore," Ruby finished. Lie number two.

Weiss seemed to think for a moment.

"I'm really not that cool Ruby. And I don't really mind how you act around me. Even after two years, it's refreshing to have you treat me like a real person, instead of the heiress of Schnee Dust."

_"Good, she bought it,"_ Ruby thought to herself.

"So I'll try not to make you nervous so much," Weiss finished with a warm smile. The street lamp overhead shone down on her, highlighting her face and lending it a warm glow.

Ruby couldn't help but smile back; she loved Weiss' smiles. They were so rare and so different from her regular expression. Her eyebrows were normally slanted in a sneer or a glare, even when she wasn't annoyed at anything in particular. But when she smiled they went flat, and the harshness left her face, causing her eyes to twinkle. And in Ruby's opinion, it made her all the more beautiful.

And that was when she realized it. The reason she felt so warm around Weiss, the reason she couldn't pull herself away from the other girl, the reason it physically hurt when they were apart for more than a few days. The reason she was so nervous around her. It hit her like a slap to the face, an unquestionable fact that couldn't be argued with.

She was in love with Weiss Schnee.

This wasn't coming out of nowhere, in fact, she had had a strong crush on the white-haired girl for over a year now. It had been bearable though, given that she had gotten to be around her almost every day and that Weiss hadn't shown any interest in anyone else. So Ruby had been content to simply do her best to ignore the feelings she experienced around Weiss; she knew that they could never be together. Weiss wasn't a lesbian, and even if she was, she would never want to be with Ruby. For one, the brunette knew her family would never allow it. And two, she knew that she was simply too clumsy, too stupid, too immature to ever be considered as more than a friend and a partner to the heiress. And it hurt, but she endured. Just as she always had.

She didn't know how much longer she could ignore these feelings though. Not now, not after this realization. _Love_. So this was what romantic love felt like. Was it supposed to hurt like this? She wanted nothing more right now than to hold the other girl close, to meet those beautiful lips with her own and feel their bodies pressed tight up against each other after so long. She wanted to run her finger over Weiss' scar, to tell her how she felt and to lavish her with more affection than the world had ever seen.

But that could never be. So instead, she settled for a simple hug.

She stepped forward and pulled the white-haired girl into a warm embrace. "Thanks Weiss."

It took a few seconds, but Weiss tentatively returned it, lightly wrapping her arms around the taller girl's waist. Yet somehow, it felt wrong to Ruby.

_"Hugs are supposed to make you feel good. They're not supposed to make you hurt on the inside like this..."_ she thought to herself.

So she stepped back and released the other girl, and for some reason it felt far too soon for the heiress. Weiss turned her head to the left, pretending to watch the passers-by on the other side of the street in an attempt to hide her blush.

"So uh... can we go to that weapon store now?"

"Of course," Weiss replied with a warm smile. "Are you alright? You got lost in space there for a second."

"Yeah, I'm just fine," Ruby lied.

* * *

The steady droning hum of the airship was a balm to the heiress' thoughts as it flew steadily towards Vale. Night had fallen, and the dim blue cabin lighting made the passenger compartment feel strange and almost ethereal. She sighed as she gazed out of the viewport, her eyes alighting on the familiar shape of Remnant's shattered moon. The small fragments that were all that remained of the lower right corner drifted along with it, suspended in space by the moon's gravity. It refused to let them go, refused to let them drift away into the uncaring void.

The soft sound of breathing drew her attention and she looked to her left, where Ruby was fast asleep in one of the green cushioned chairs. At her side was a plastic bag, full of new rounds and cleaning gear for Crescent Rose. She remembered how happy Ruby had been, at something as simple as a new cloth to care for her beloved weapon. Gazing at her young leader, unbidden feelings of warmth and nervousness rose to her breast.

_"Why? Is this... a crush? Is that what this is, what this feels like? It certainly is how I've heard it described... but why do I feel this way about her? I'm not a lesbian, I'm simply not."_

Her mind was at war with itself, both sides assaulting and defending each other like opposing armies clashing on the battlefield. She knew Ruby deserved the best, and she also knew that she couldn't be the one to give it to her. She was too cold, too bitter, too _mean_ to ever be able to satisfy her partner. She wasn't like Ruby, who was beautiful both inside and out. Weiss was only beautiful on the outside, and she knew it. Inside was cold and frozen, dark and jaded. She knew what life expected out of her. She knew what her fate would be. Nothing more than an investment to continue the Schnee family line. Ruby deserved better than her.

_"But that's if I was even gay in the first place. Which I'm not."_

She remembered not-too-fondly just how she knew that to be true. She was only thirteen, and she had seen another young girl in a black dress at one of her families balls. She had remarked to her mother on how pretty the young girl was. Then, after a few seconds of contemplation, she had asked her mother if she could ask the girl for a dance. Her mother had looked at her with a horrified expression and knelt down beside her so that no one else could see. Then she had slapped her across the face, bringing tears to the young girl's eyes.

"Weiss Schnee. You are not a lesbian," she said with a stern expression. "No Schnee has ever been gay, and no Schnee ever will. Repeat after me. I am not a lesbian."

"I am not a lesbian," young Weiss had repeated, as she dried her tears on her sleeve.

"I am not a lesbian," Weiss whispered to herself, as she stood in the empty cabin of the airship.

* * *

"Ruby, you are taking _forever_. Are you almost done? I'd like to get changed sometime tonight too!"

A muffled voice replied from beyond the bathroom door.

"Well just get changed in the room then, and tell me when you're done!"

Thoughts of Ruby walking in on her in a less-than-clothed state ran through her mind before she could stop them, and she screwed her eyes shut as she blocked them out.

"As if I would ever be caught _dead_ doing something so indecent. Just hurry up and finish."

The bathroom door opened and Ruby stepped out, rubbing her brown-and-red hair with a towel.

"Holy geez I'm done already, there you go. You are now free to decorate the bathroom with ice as you see fit." she said with a joking smile.

"Hah hah. Hilarious," Weiss replied, as she grabbed her towel and a change of clothes from her bed and stepped inside the bathroom. Even still, she wasn't able to keep a small smile off of her face. The walls of the bathroom were tiled and painted a warm red, almost orange in color. The floor was tan, and felt cold to her bare feet. She closed the door behind her and turned on the shower, glad to see that there was still hot water in the pipes. She undressed and stepped into the running water, letting it wash off all of her worries and fears. For a second, she allowed herself a fantasy. She wasn't Weiss Schnee anymore, heiress of Schnee Dust. No, there under the running water, she simply _was_. Just a girl, free to make her own choices and do as she saw fit. _A girl like Ruby._

_"Augh, why won't she get out of my head!?"_

Frantically, she shampooed and ran her fingers through her hair, desperate for something to take her mind off of her partner. Who was currently in the next room. While she was in here. Naked. The thought brought heat rushing to her cheeks, and she cursed herself.

_"What the hell? I've never thought of that before, why am I doing this now?"_

She finished washing herself quickly, determined to brush her teeth and get into bed as quickly as possible. Sleep would be safe from Ruby; she didn't dream much anymore. Except for last night...

Stepping out of the shower, she quickly dried her hair and body, then slipped into her underwear and nightgown. She grabbed her toothbrush, and after applying toothpaste, began brushing furiously.

After a minute of that, she spat out the toothpaste and washed her mouth out with water. Cleaning her toothbrush, she slotted it back into place and washed her hands.

"Hey Weiss?" The question came from the other side of the door.

_"Not now..."_

"...Yes Ruby?"

"I really had fun tonight. Thanks for going out with me."

"...You're welcome."

_"Thanks for going out with me," _she repeated over and over in her head. Had Ruby meant it that way? That wasn't a date, they didn't go out. They just went out... to town.

She stared at herself in the mirror long and hard, taking in everything. Her furrowed eyebrows, her snow-white hair, loose as it cascaded off her shoulders, her ugly scar, everything.

_"Thanks for going out with me." _No matter how hard she tried to feel something different when replaying Ruby's words in her head, they made her feel warm and happy, nervous and yet not. Butterflies fluttered in her chest, and her throat constricted a little.

"I am not a lesbian," she whispered.

Still, the feelings persisted.

"I am not a lesbian."

Nothing, she felt the same. Slowly, she raised her right hand.

"I am not a lesbian," she whispered again, as if saying it over and over would somehow quash the feelings welling up inside of her.

It didn't work. She held her hand out tentatively, open palm, and then slapped herself across the face. _Hard_.

"I am not a lesbian," she growled.

***slap***

"I am not a lesbian."

***slap***

"I am not a lesbian!" she repeated in a harsh whisper. Tears were gathering in the corners of her eyes now. Why wasn't this working?

***slap***

"I. Am not. A lesbian," she forcefully muttered, shaking with fury and despair, holding her hand up next to her face. She drew it back to slap herself again, but stopped halfway.

"Weiss?" There was a knocking at the door. "Weiss, are you okay? What's that smacking noise? Are you alright?"

She sniffed, and wiped her tears with her palm. "I-I'm fine, I just... dropped my toothbrush. I fell and had to catch myself, but I'm good now." Why did it hurt so much to lie to Ruby?

"O-okay, just... let me know if you need anything, alright? I'm right here."

_"I'm right here,"_ she repeated in her head. _"Curse you Ruby Rose! Why do you have to be so perfect, so kind, so caring, so... there for me? I've never had anyone but myself, I don't need anyone but myself, I certainly don't need you... but then why do I want you so badly?"_

She realized Ruby would grow suspicious if she remained in the bathroom, so she dusted her cheeks slightly with blush to hide the redness. Wiping her tears one final time, she stepped out of the bathroom and walked over to her bed, immediately slipping inside of it and pulling the covers high over her shoulders. She lay on her side facing the wall, her back towards Ruby.

"Are you sure you're fine?"

"Yes Ruby, now go to sleep. Tomorrow is your day to relax, remember?"

"Heh heh, right. Hey uh, what are you gonna do tomorrow?"

"...Train, I suppose. Study as well."

"Well... I might join you if I get bored. That okay?"

_"No, it's not okay. I can't even handle being near you anymore. I need to make space between us. I have to. For your sake as much as mine. You don't want this, you don't want me. You shouldn't."_

"Actually, I'd prefer if you left me alone tomorrow. It would let me focus on my training." The words turned to ash in her mouth, and it stung to say them. What hurt even more was the dejected tone of Ruby's reply.

"O-oh. Alright. Well uh... have fun. Goodnight Weiss." There was a rustling noise as Ruby slipped into her sheets and got comfortable.

"Goodnight Ruby." She wanted to say more, wanted to say that she had enjoyed their time together immensely, that she wanted to spend even more together, that she appreciated everything Ruby had ever done for her. But the words caught in her throat, and instead a single tear slipped from the corner of her eye and slid down her face.

_"Why can't I just like some stupid CEO's son? Why does it have to be her? Why does it have to be Ruby?"_

Her mother's bleak voice echoed through her thoughts. _"You are not a lesbian."_

_"Why can't I just be normal?"_

* * *

**_Ouch. This hurt to write. _**

**_Turns out writing regular RWBY at Beacon, as in not some crazy AU, is harder for me than the alternative. This is also a good example of what chapter length should look like from me._**

**_This is also my first time writing team JNPR, so what did you guys think? _**

**_Also, there's some confusion as to how Weiss can be disowned by her family, and yet become the owner of Schnee Dust in the future. Well, when her father dies without an heir, the company passes on to Weiss by default, she being the only surviving member of his bloodline. Simple as that. Don't worry, I'll elaborate much more on that in the future. _**

**_So yeah, please leave a review, and thanks for reading._**


	3. Chapter 2 - Moondust

_**I'm building this house, on the moon  
Like a lost, astronaut  
Looking at you, like a star  
From the place, the world forgot **_

_**And there's nothing, that I can do  
Except bury my love for you **_

_**The brightness of the sun, will give me just enough  
To bury my love, in the Moondust  
I long to hear your voice, but still I make the choice  
To bury my love, in the moondust **_

_**I'm a cast away, and people reap what they sow  
And I say what I know, to be true  
Yeah I'm living far away, on the face of the moon  
I've buried my love to give the world to you **_

_**I've buried my love, in the Moondust**_

* * *

Muted green grass rustled and flowed, blown into a simulacrum of the sea by the sweeping wind. The sky was grey and overcast, the clouds massive and brooding, as if contemplating on whether or not to unleash their precipitation on the world below them. In the middle of a large, secluded clearing Weiss finally stopped, Myrtenaster held at the ready as she caught her breath. She was clad in a white tank top and a pair of black workout shorts. Beads of sweat rolled down her face, and her breathing was heavy and labored as she allowed herself to rest after her latest string of combat exercises. She glanced at her watch and was startled by the time. It was already five in the evening.

She had been training all day, moving from place to place, from sparring field to running track, desperate to calm the roiling storm of thoughts inside her head. Desperate to make sense of her feelings, specifically the ones she had for her leader and partner, Ruby Rose. Yoga, running, swimming, fencing, working out, nothing seemed to help. Normally physical activity, especially with her trusted rapier served to calm her and help her concentrate on the important things in life, and shut out the trivial.

_"But this isn't trivial, is it? To me, Ruby really is the most important thing in my life..."_

Sighing, she lowered Myrtenaster and slipped it into her belt loop, beginning the long trek back to Beacon Academy.

Her thoughts were still troubled, and she stared at the ground as she walked.

What would this be like if she hadn't been raised the way she had? What if her parents had been loving and accepting of whatever choices she had made? What if she was allowed to be herself? With this fresh perspective, she began to re-evaluate her opinion of Ruby.

Her partner had always been there for her, no matter how hard she tried to push her away. No one else made her feel safe and happy like Ruby somehow did. Hell, no one made her feel safe and happy period, except for the brunette. She liked Blake and Yang, well, less the latter sometimes, and they were comfortably friends, but she knew that their bond could be broken.

The one she shared with Ruby was a different matter. You didn't trust someone with your life for more than two years and then just expect to have no lasting connection with them. She felt it, deep down: the bond she shared with Ruby. When Ruby was near her, she could feel her own aura brighten, when it felt the warm and familiar presence of Ruby's own. Colors seemed brighter, and all the bad things in life seemed less important. Ruby cared for her, honestly, Weiss could tell that much.

The younger girl had this infuriating way of making her feel better too. Weiss was normally self-deprecating; no one realized her flaws more than she did herself. But Ruby didn't let her put herself down, or criticize herself. Ruby's compliments were honest and true; they lacked any ulterior motive other than to try to make the heiress feel good about herself.

_Ruby wanted her to feel good_, period.

And that was more than she could say for any other human being she had met in her entire life. Family aside, obligations aside, all that laid to rest, would a relationship with Ruby really be all that bad?

It began to rain, tiny droplets of water plummeting from the unhappy heavens and spattering her outfit with dark spots.

A relationship with Ruby would probably be... nice. She could only imagine how good it would feel to have the taller girl hold her, to have her wrap her up in that beautiful cloak and whisper to her that everything would be okay. To feel her partners skin against her own, to breathe deep the ataractic scent of roses...

But that could only be if Ruby agreed to such a thing in the first place. Weiss was not one to work off of assumptions, and she had no clue as to how deep Ruby's feelings for her truly ran. In her mind, the brunette wouldn't want her anyway. She needed someone just as loving and kind as she was, someone who could truly reciprocate her love. She didn't need, and wouldn't want a brittle girl who pushed people away when they got close, someone who would honestly just be plain _difficult_ to love. Ruby was so free and open, so willing to let people get near to her heart to her that it honestly scared Weiss. She knew she could never be that way, and she didn't want Ruby to end up with someone like her. Ruby deserved better than that.

_"Also, for a relationship to happen, I would actually have to be physically attracted to her. But... if I'm being completely honest with myself..."_ This was hard to admit, even in her own mind. _"I am..." _

In the back of her head, she realized that the list of things preventing her from being with Ruby was gradually getting shorter and shorter.

But even before all of that could be truly be considered, there was still the matter of her family, and her obligations as an heiress. Add that to Ruby's dreams of being a huntress and her need to travel and help people, and Weiss knew a relationship between herself and her partner would never work. These feelings she had, for now she now accepted them as affection for her partner, she would have to let wither and die, like a rose in the winter. The metaphor was apt; she was the cold winter, brutal and uncaring. And Ruby was the rose, delicate and pure. But a rose needs sunlight and rain, something winter sorely lacks and simply cannot provide. The two could not co-exist together.

She had to accept that, as much as it hurt her inside. She cursed herself; that had been the point of these walls she had carefully built up, to never allow anyone to get close enough to cause her pain. And yet here she was, feeling cold and alone in the pouring rain. But her aching solitude wasn't caused by the rain. It was caused by a person, something she swore she would never allow to happen again. And yet, Ruby had gotten close. And not because she had forced herself in, or broken down the heiress' walls with manipulation and fear. She had simply been kind and caring, and Weiss had let her in of her own accord. And now she was feeling the pain she deserved, as someone who shut everyone else out. She knew this pain was her just reward. People reap what they sow, and she knew she had sown only hardship and remorse.

The thought was sobering and lachrymose as she gazed up into the darkening sky and let the rain fall upon her face. She needed to let Ruby go, to forget about her feelings and shut the other girl out, for both their sakes. Yet as she looked up into the grey sky, the only thing she could think of was how they reminded her of Ruby's eyes.

She needed to forget.

_"So why can't I?"_

* * *

Ruby frowned in concentration, scribbling and scratching as she revised the last sentence of her fifteen-page paper on the migratory habits of Beowolves, and what effects that might have on the surrounding populace. She was sitting in her pajamas at the desk in her and Weiss' shared room, which was pressed up against the window. Rain spattered against the window-panes: a pattering sound that calmed her thoughts and helped her focus on her work. Not that she needed much extra help with that these days; her study habits had improved dramatically over the years. Nowadays her grades were at the top of the class, constantly vying for the number one spot with Weiss' and Pyrrha's.

The air inside the room was cool, and she shivered and wrapped her cloak a little tighter around her shoulders while she wrote. She finished the paper and set down her pencil, sighing apprehensively and gazing out through the rain-washed window at the courtyard below. She could only wonder at where Weiss could be. She was worried about her, the image of her partner standing by herself in the rain sending a pang of longing through her heart. Times like these, it physically hurt to be apart from the other girl. Ruby knew it was unhealthy, the intensity of these feelings that she had for Weiss, but there was really nothing she felt could do but try to wait them out.

She had always been drawn to people in need, it was what pushed her so strongly to become a huntress in the first place. When she saw someone hurting, physically or mentally, she felt the inexplicable urge to help them however she could. Some saw it as a weakness. She didn't. In her mind, it was a strength. It gave her the drive to go on when others would have given up long ago. Whenever anyone around her was in trouble or pain, she felt the inexplicable urge to try to help them with their burdens, to lighten the load and assist them however possible. That drive gave her the courage to keep going forward. It made her stronger than others.

And while the heiress might not show it, she knew Weiss was hurting on the inside. There was an old saying she had once heard, "hurt people hurt people." She knew Weiss wasn't cold and defensive for no reason; it was clear to Ruby that she was simply afraid of letting people close to her because she had been hurt in the past. She knew the probable cause too: Weiss' parents. Her partner had talked about them only briefly before, it was a subject she was quick to avoid and hesitant to elaborate upon. But Ruby had been able to gather, through small inferences, crumpled up letters, (that had been sitting out in the open anyway, that was okay right?) and small fragments of conversation heard through closed doors, that the relationship between her and her parents was... strained. At best.

Sure, Weiss put up a convincing front: that of a cold, mature heiress who knew what she wanted and would stop at nothing to achieve it. But Ruby could tell that deep down inside, she just a scared young girl desperately seeking the acceptance her parents had denied her from somewhere else, anywhere else. And more than anything, Ruby wanted to be the acceptance that Weiss secretly craved. She would be anything, whatever Weiss needed, as long as she could hold her tightly and whisper to her that everything would turn out all right. Ruby didn't know exactly when her desire to help Weiss had developed into feelings of attraction, but she did know that they weren't going away anytime soon.

And therein lay the problem, the one she had gone over in her mind a hundred times before. She knew she could never have a relationship with her partner, because obviously, Weiss would never agree to it. Ruby liked to think that she was important to the white-haired heiress, but even she knew she was being delusional if she entertained the notion that Weiss would choose her over her destiny with Schnee Dust. Well, there was that, and the fact that Weiss would never, _ever_, in a thousand years see her in a romantic light.

_"Yeap, stupid, immature, clumsy, Ruby. That's me, king of the dolts." _

Well there was ALL that, aaaand that she was pretty sure that Weiss was straight. As she sat at that desk twirling her pencil between her fingers, a little voice spoke up in her head.

_"Why are you even bothering with all this?"_

_"Yeah, why am I even bothering?"_

_"Because she needs someone," _her mind argued back.

_"Well sure, but it's obviously never gonna be me."_

_"Why not?"_

_"Pssh, I already told you why!"_

_"And do you really believe all of those reasons? Do you honestly believe that she thinks you're stupid, clumsy, and immature? That that's all you're ever gonna be?"_

_"Well... maybe not ALL the time..."_

_"And do you really think she'd choose her duty to her family over you? Given how you KNOW she feels about them?"_

_"Well, maybe not. But she's still straight!"_

_"You think."_

"Ugh, shut up already!" she yelled as she threw her pencil across the room, where it smacked against the wall and fell to the floor. She rubbed her forehead and groaned. "Now I remember why I don't talk to the voices in my head..."

Sighing, she leaned back in the chair, tilting it on its hind legs and hanging her head upside down, gazing at the room from her new inverted perspective.

She was bored. That paper had been the last thing on her to-do list for the day. Completely. Utterly. Bored.

Racking her brain as she swayed back and forth in the chair, she tried to think of something, anything to do. Yang and Blake were out in town doing who-knows-what, and the entirety of Team JNPR was away on a supervised mission, part of the more advanced training that third-year students received. That left... Penny? No, she was out with Velvet. No one knew where Sun's team of douches went on the weekends. She still remembered how Neptune had hit on Weiss when they had first met, and the memory made her clench her fists in anger. Seriously, who did that the first time they met someone?

_"A complete douche-lord, that's who. That kid likes to think he's so smart and so cool, but he's got another thing coming if he tries to go for Weiss again."_

Well, there was still Cardin's team.

_"Yeah... no."_

All this thinking was tiring her out. Eyelids drooping, her gaze was slowly drawn towards her bed. For some reason, the rose-embroidered comforter looked particularly inviting... and now that she thought about it, she hadn't gotten much sleep in the past week. It was only six, but a nap sure would be nice, and hey, she was already in her pajamas.

_"Oorrr, instead of a nap, I can just sleep till Sunday."_

She lazily climbed into bed, not bothering to set an alarm.

_"Goodnight world... and goodnight Weiss, wherever you are."_

And the rain kept pouring.

* * *

Ruby opened her eyes slowly. Something had woken her. And it was still dark. That wasn't good. Groggily, she opened her eyelids, tilting her head and trying to re-introduce her brain to the power of sight. She noticed a sliver of light coming from the door to the hall, which disappeared with a soft click as soon as she saw it. Someone had just entered the room and closed the door.

_"Weiss?"_

She couldn't see; the room was too dark. But she heard drawers opening and a rustling noise over on Weiss' side of the room, and she was fairly certain that her white-haired partner was finally back.

Her voice was heavy and scratchy from just being woken up. "Weiss? Is that you?"

Silence answered her, but as her eyes adjusted, she could make out a shadowy figure moving towards the bathroom. The door to said room opened, and in the split second before it closed again, she caught a glimpse of half of Weiss' face. She looked... sad?

Concerned for her partner, Ruby shakily got out of bed and walked over to the bathroom door, hesitantly reaching out her hand to knock as she heard the shower turn on. But then she thought better of it, and let her arm fall back to her side. She was about to turn around and head back to bed, in a noticeably worse mood than before, but just before she could something caught her ear.

Soft singing. Weiss' voice, Weiss' beautiful, _beautiful_ voice.

That was too much, much too much for her right now. Weiss was unwittingly taking advantage of Ruby's half-awake state; her emotions felt like they were being amplified somehow. Her feelings for Weiss intensified, and Ruby felt her heart ache and her knees grow weak. But instead of fighting the sensation, she simply let herself slump down against the bathroom door.

She lost herself in the white-haired heiress' quiet but soulful singing, feeling her heart rising with her crescendos and falling with her diminuendos. Weiss' singing voice was quite unlike her regular tone of speech. Where the latter was forceful and brittle, the former was soft and delicate, ethereally haunting in its beauty.

Ruby felt her love for the other girl swell in her heart, knowing without a shadow of a doubt that this was the person that she wanted to be with. Such a thing of raw beauty, she felt, needed to be cherished and protected by someone. And it hurt, it hurt _so much_, knowing that she could never be that person. It would be someone else, she told herself, someone tall and strong and handsome, and smart, and rich, someone that could be everything Weiss needed. And that someone, definitely wasn't her. But try as she might, she simply could not stop feeling the way she did about her partner, leaving her alone with nothing but an aching sense of longing.

Too late, she noticed that the water had stopped running, perhaps even a little while ago. She felt the door shift against her back, and she frantically stood up and turned around.

Weiss stood in the door-frame in her blue nightgown, staring at her with a mixture of shock and anger, her hair loose as it tumbled down her shoulders. Her scar flared noticeably.

"W-were you listening to me sing?"

"...Yes," Ruby nervously replied, unable to find the willpower to lie her way out of this situation.

"You know that's eavesdropping right?" Ruby lowered her head in shame. But she felt she had to interrupt, to speak the words she needed to before it was too late. "How dare you, how incredibly rude of you to-"

"It was really beautiful," she interjected softly.

"I... what?"

"Your singing. It was really beautiful. You have a pretty voice Weiss, kind of like an angel. I wish you'd sing more often."

The other girl was speechless, opening and closing her mouth like a fish.

"I... you..."

In her head, Weiss tried to process what she had just heard, to fully understand what it meant. No one had ever spoken so plainly and honestly about her voice. They had told her how amazing it was, sure, but only followed by how she should use it, with their help of course, to gain fame, money, and influence. They treated her voice like an object, like a tool they could exploit.

Ruby was the first person to compliment her voice so simply, so honestly, that it made her feel amazing inside. To hear her partner speak those words about her, it made her heart swell up with pride and... something else. Something she wasn't sure about. Her feelings for Ruby flared to the forefront, but before she could do something she knew she'd regret, she shut those emotions out, shut her mouth, and turned away, intent on getting into bed as quickly as possible.

Her plan would have worked perfectly too, if a pair of strong arms hadn't reached out from behind and wrapped her in a firm, caring embrace. It was almost as if Ruby was afraid of breaking her. No one had ever touched her that way, as if they were concerned about hurting her. When people were forced to touch her, they treated her the same way she treated them: harshly.

And as much as she wanted to think otherwise, she knew she was treating Ruby the same way. The brunette had been her partner for the better part of two years, and now she was giving her the silent treatment like a petulant child, simply because she couldn't deal with her emotions. She was treating Ruby like trash, and it she knew it. And it hurt. But it was the only thing she could think to do.

Still, the notion that she could treat Ruby this badly, and still have the other girl embrace her with the utmost of care and caution... it was heart-melting. Ruby truly did care for her. Much more so than she deserved.

So she stood there, silent and unmoving, feeling her heart swell and pound, feeling like it would burst out of her chest any moment. Ruby held her tightly, refusing to let go. Fire ran up and down her spine and through her veins, and her fingers and toes tingled with electricity. It was the scariest, strangest, most heavenly feeling she had ever experienced. And she endured it, captured every second of it in her mind so that she could think about this moment when she was feeling alone. Because when everything was said and done, she knew she finally had someone who _cared_ for her, in a way that no one else ever had. The thought made her feel that somehow, some way, everything might turn out okay. She felt like she might actually not have to spend the remainder of her short life alone. She relished the idea, turning it around in her head and basking in its warmth, just as she basked in the warmth of Ruby's body pressed up against her own.

Ah, right. She had almost forgotten. Ruby's body. Ruby's warmth. Pressed up against her own. The realization of what Ruby was doing dragged her back into her bleak reality.

This had gone on long enough. She couldn't let herself indulge in this, couldn't let herself entertain the notion that she and Ruby could ever be together. So she pulled away as gently as possible, walked over to her bed, and slipped inside the covers. She shut her eyes as tightly as possible.

Ruby stood there for a few seconds longer, arms hanging uselessly by her sides. But before long, she too returned to her bed and laid down upon it, not even bothering to get under the covers. She felt like crying.

_"She didn't hug me back, not even a little... what does she hate me for? What did I do wrong?"_

But before the first tear could slip down her flushed face, she felt Weiss shift in the other bed.

A soft whisper posed her name like a question. "Ruby?" it asked.

"...Yes Weiss?"

"...Thank you."

"I... goodnight, Weiss. Sweet dreams."

"Goodnight Ruby._ I'm sorry_."

"Sorry for what?" Ruby whispered back, but the other girl had already turned over and shut her out. Again.

_"What... what is she sorry for?"_

Sleep did not come easily that night, for either of them.

* * *

The next day Ruby awoke with a start, jolting upright as some crazy blonde kicked open the door to her room.

"Waaake up you two! It's team night!"

The brunette sighed, realizing she had woken up for nothing. She flopped backwards onto her bed, glancing to her right and watching Weiss as she groaned and pulled the sheets further over herself.

"Yang... it's still morning. We don't do team night until later in the evening, remember?"

"Aaand that's where you're wrong little sis. It's five in the evening."

"WHAAT!" Weiss scrambled out of bed, snatching a change of clothes from her drawer before rushing into the bathroom.

"Yang..." Ruby asked while rubbing her eyes, "please tell me you're just pranking her. Is it really that late?"

"Sorry, but yeap, it really is five. And if you'll care to remember, it's _my_ turn to pick what we do for team night!"

"Oh boy... so what's it gonna be this time? Motorcycle lessons? That crazy burger place? The gym? Again?"

Yang leaned forward suspiciously. There was a strange glint in her lavender eyes.

"When was the last time you drank?"

Ruby's eyes widened. "Oh no."

"Ooohhh yes."

* * *

**_There is, a house, in Sin City_**

**_They call: the Rising Sun_**

**_And it's been the ruin, of many a poor boy_**

**_And god, I know, I'm one_**

Yang sang these words softly, as she pushed open the old-west style swinging doors of the Rising Sun bar in Vale City. Her spurred boots clanged with every step she took, drawing attention from the occupants much like a Sheriff would have done in a bygone era. She stood there in the door for a second with a wicked grin, hands on her hips, daring someone to challenge her. Fortunately for the owner of the bar, everyone quickly averted their gaze. The other members of Team RWBY collectively breathed a sigh of relief and stepped inside. A dozen things immediately assaulted the senses. The shouting of enraged drunkards and the arguments of the sober battled for the attention of their ears. The aromas of mixed alcohol and barbeque filled their noses.

Team RWBY, dressed in regular street clothes for the night, or as close to regular street clothes as Weiss would ever wear, responded with a medley of reactions. Ruby looked excited, but yet also apprehensive at being forced to deal with the horrors of alcohol again. Blake's expression was neutral and reserved, but she swept her gaze over the entire room suspiciously. Yang had a wicked grin on her face. Who knew what she had planned for the night. And then there was Weiss. Weiss' expression was much like one you'd find on someone who'd just emerged from a port-a-potty that had been pushed over. To say she looked disgusted was a heinous understatement. But that was the fun thing about team night. Whoever's turn it was got to pick the activity, no matter how boring, far-fetched, downright illegal, or disagreeable with the other team members it was.

Ruby followed Yang and Blake inside, glancing backwards to make sure the heiress was behind her. The white-haired girl almost met her gaze, but quickly looked away before she could.

The interior was decorated much like an old cantina from the deserts out to the west. Everything was wooden, the chairs and tables were round, and everywhere one looked there were guns and mounted Grimm heads adorning the walls. The bar itself was attached to the wall to their left. It was huge, and the wall behind it was stocked with almost every brand of beer, wine, brandy, whiskey, gin, vodka, moonshine, sake, rum, tequila, and mead known to man. A vast panoply of bad decisions just waiting to happen, in everyone's opinion but Yang's.

They sat around a circular table next to the bar, Yang sitting across from Weiss. They looked at each other in turn, Ruby with a smile, Weiss with a frown, Yang with a smirk, and Blake with something unreadable. The faunus was the first to break the relative silence of their table; the rest of the bar was actually quite rowdy.

"Yang, please remind me again why you wore _spurred boots_."

"Duh? This is an old western bar, and I've obviously got to fit the part! I noticed you didn't wear your cowboy hat either."

"I already told you I was _not_ wearing that."

The blonde stuck her tongue out at her girlfriend. "Spoilsport."

"More like the only sane one in this relationship."

"Pfft, whatever. Ima go hit up the bartender, whaddya guys want? AND before you say anything, Weiss, Ruby, yes, you _do_ have to drink. That's the condition of this team night. I didn't say _how much_ you have to drink, but you do have to at least drink some. And no, beer doesn't count."

This all worked out in Yang's favor of course. She knew that how often Weiss and Ruby drank landed on the slider somewhere between "once a year" and "never." She knew that it would only take the slightest amount of liqueur to get them drunk.

"Fine," Weiss said with a defeated sigh. "I'll have vodka. Something classy, please, not just some cheap swill."

"Stolichnaya, got it."

Ruby spoke up next. "Uh, whiskey? Something good?"

"I'll get you some Jack," Yang responded.

"Château La Garde, Pessac-Léognan. No less than five years old."

"Uh... you're gonna have to write that down Blake. No way I'll remember that."

The faunus pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen from who-knows-where, and quickly wrote down her choice of spirit for the night. Yang took the paper with a smile and rushed off to the bar, immediately striking up a conversation with the man.

Weiss watched her with a bored expression. "Sometimes I wonder how she can be so good with people she doesn't know, and yet so infuriating to the ones she does."

"Yeah, I've always wondered that too," Ruby said. She was glad that the earlier tension between her and the heiress seemed to be gone, but she realized it was probably only because they were in the company of others. She pulled four menus out of the metal stand they were in and passed them out to her friends and Yang's empty space.

They mulled over their orders for a while, and soon enough Yang returned with a tray of drinks. She set each one down with its respective owner, then sat down in her own chair.

"A toast!" she shouted.

"To what, might I ask?" Weiss asked.

"Well to Team RWBY of course! I don't know if you noticed, but we're currently ranked number one in both academics _and_ combat exercises."

"Oh I noticed. But to be honest, we're only barely ahead in academics. Because of a certain someone..."

"Hey! Without me, you'd be near the bottom in combat. I'm not trying to puff myself up here, but I think I can honestly say I'm the best fighter in the school."

"Best? No. Your style is still somewhat unrefined. But most effective... there I would be forced to agree. You have a drive and a determination in combat that others lack," the heiress elaborated.

Yang grinned. "Basically I can take a punch better than anyone else."

"If you want to put it that way. And don't be offended, but I think Ruby is catching up with you. I'd say by the end of our fourth year, she'll be able to best anyone in the entire school. Including you."

Ruby's face lit up at the honest praise from her partner. "Aww, thanks Weiss."

"Don't thank me," she replied. "You've earned it."

Blake, who had been silently listening to the conversation, closed her menu and located the closest waiter. "Is everyone ready to order?"

"Geez kitty, you hungry or something?"

"Starved, actually. A certain someone forgot to pack a lunch for our bike ride, remember?"

"Oh, so it's my fault huh?" Yang chuckled. She loved teasing her girlfriend. "I just worry about the bike, you can take care of that small stuff."

"Food is small stuff? That's certainly not how you made it sound earlier when you were complaining."

"Ouch! Taking advantage of me in my moment of weakness." The blonde pressed her hands to her heart and frowned pitifully. "I don't know if my heart can take this..."

"You'll get over it," Blake dryly replied. "So, orders. Everyone ready?"

A chorus of nodding heads answered her, and she waved over a nearby waiter, who replied by holding his pointer finger in the air, signalling that he would be a minute. Yang decided to take advantage of the lull in conversation to execute her carefully prepared plan.

"Hey Weiss."

"Ugh, what do you want Yang?"

"Whatcha gettin."

"Why do you care?"

"Oh you know me," she said with an impish smirk. "I'm naturally curious."

"Yes, well, curiosity killed the cat, who in this case happens to be your girlfriend. And I'm sure you don't want that."

Blake frowned. "Leave me out of this, please."

"Stop trying to change the subject. Whatcha gettin."

"Hmph. If you must know, I had planned on ordering Filet Mignon."

"Wow, how cliché for the snobby rich girl to get the most expensive cut huh? You're paying, right?"

"No," Weiss said with a sneer. "Remember, this is _your_ team night."

Yang simply shrugged. "Whatever, I can cover it. But uh, why don't you get the bratwurst or something? This place has _really_ good bratwurst."

"I've never particularly enjoyed any type of sausage honestly. So I'm going to have to pass on the bratwurst."

Yang leaned forward towards the table, a mischievous glint in her eye. Blake and Ruby both braced themselves for what would come next.

"Weiss."

The heiress was completely clueless. "What you big oaf?"

"That decision is simply the _wurst_."

Weiss was struck speechless, her scar twitching angrily as she attempted to process the horror of what she had been subjected to. Ruby face-palmed, sighing heavily. Blake shivered, her ears folding themselves flat against her head.

"Oh come on," Yang said with a grin, "it wasn't that bad! Obviously you guys aren't drunk enough." She held up her glass, prompting the others to do the same. Begrudgingly though, they gave in, and everyone raised their glasses for a full spectrum toast.

Yellow. "To Team RWBY!"

Black. "Cheers."

Red. "Yay, Team RWBY!"

White. "Quite."

* * *

Ruby learned two things that night.

One. Drunk Weiss, equals affectionate Weiss.

And two, affectionate Weiss, equals terrified Ruby.

As the night progressed, the atmosphere in the Rising Sun changed. Angry drunks were escorted out by friends and the light-weights, for the most part, left of their own accord. The mood shifted: people's inhibitions lowered, and conversation got a lot less intelligible and a lot more honest. Team RWBY had migrated to different parts of the bar. Yang and Blake were in a back corner, having some undoubtedly deep conversation. Weiss was at the bar itself, sipping her vodka and doing her best to ignore the boisterous man to her right. And then there was Ruby.

On the opposite side of the bar, but a little closer to the back, was a large fireplace with a few brown leather couches positioned in front of it. Ruby was currently perched atop the one closest to the flickering flame. She stared deep into the burning embers, her mind occupied with all kinds of nervous thoughts. She didn't like alcohol much. It brought out the worst in her, the nervous, self-doubting, self-loathing part. Whatever hidden fears she bottled up during the day, alcohol brought them to the forefront of her mind and forced her to stare them down. And the most prominent thing on her mind lately, was Weiss.

All she could think of was how much Weiss must hate her, how completely useless she was, and how impossible a relationship between the two of them was. She over-thought every little detail she could remember over the past few days. She managed to convince herself that Weiss was being serious when she called her a dolt, and a dunce, and a loser, and a clumsy, inconsiderate idiot.

She glanced over her shoulder, seeking out the source of her trauma, only to see the girl in question chatting up the bartender with a smile on her face. Her intoxicated mind took the worst possible route it could have, showing her images of the man taking Weiss home and having his way with her. Her heart ached, the emotional pain somehow amplified by the numbing effects the alcohol was having on her physical body.

_"She's gonna go home with him... the girl I love sleeping with a stranger... I hate myself..."_

She turned back around, and this time she was shaking a little. Staring into the fire with pained eyes, she knocked back the glass of whiskey she had been nursing in one go.

* * *

"So what's a beautiful girl like yourself doing at a bar like this?"

Weiss shifted her gaze to the bartender, an older man somewhere in his forties, with short greying-black hair and an old-western style black vest over a brown shirt. His voice was warm and melodic.

"Sorry," she responded, "I'm a le..."

She stared blankly at the alcohol display in front of her, the hand holding her glass of vodka shaking.

_"Did I almost say... I'm a lesbian?"_

"Hey, you okay? I just asked a simple question."

"I... I'm sorry. I got distracted."

He chuckled as he set down the glass he had been polishing. At this point, the bar itself was nearly empty. Weiss was one of only three people sitting at it; the rest of the patrons had retired to the tables to discuss matters amongst themselves. Thus, the bartender was free to focus his attention on the girl in front of him, who desperately looked like she needed some advice.

"Well, excuse me if I'm prying, but it sounded like you were about to say you were a lesbian."

"I..."

This was crazy. There was no way she was discussing her sexuality with a stranger. Yet a small part of herself urged the rest of her mind to trust him. Maybe it was the alcohol coursing through her veins. Maybe it was the honest look he had in his emerald eyes. Maybe it was because she felt guilty for sneaking glances towards Ruby as she sat by the fire, looking as lonely as Weiss felt.

But due to some impossible set of circumstances, she let her mental defenses drop, and she began to speak her mind.

"Yes."

"Well huh. That's not something people are normally hesitant about. These days, folks are pretty adamant on being certain."

She sighed, staring into the contents of her glass. "Yes well, the situation is complicated."

"Oh, it always is."

Did he just insinuate that her troubles were nothing? "Excuse me?"

"No offense Miss, but maybe things aren't as complicated as they seem to be."

She raised her eyebrow, a silent signal for him to continue.

"Look, I'm not gonna pretend I know your story, or what you're going through, or even how you feel about all this. But I see you sneaking looks at that girl over there by the fire, and something tells me that she's the one causing you all this trouble."

"She's not... causing trouble. This isn't her fault, not at all." She took another sip of her vodka.

The bartender leaned against the bar on his elbow, gazing over at the fireplace where Ruby sat. "I'm just saying, this might not be all that complicated really. That girl over there. You like her? And just for the sake of this conversation, which I can assure you is one-hundred percent completely confidential, just be honest."

A hundred thousand thoughts swirled through her alcohol-afflicted mind, and yet the one answer that kept coming up, over and over again, was a simple, resounding "_yes_."

Being drunk is really a crazy thing. Emotions seem so much stronger than normal, you cry over things you never would while sober, you're friendly with everybody you meet, and you're suddenly comfortable talking about things that you would never discuss otherwise.

If Weiss had been sober, a resounding: "No!" would have left her mouth without a moment of hesitation. But this was buzzed Weiss. Not yet drunk, but definitely not sober. So instead, she answered honestly.

"...Yes. I like her a lot. Way more than I should. She's just so honest, and kind and caring and-"

"Hey now, it's alright. I don't need to hear any of that. I think you'd feel better about it if you just kept those details to yourself. Like I said, they only complicate the situation. So, now we have an honest answer. You like that girl over there."

"...Yes." It felt good to say it.

"So go over there and tell her."

"Wh-what?"

The bartender grinned knowingly. "You heard me."

"I can't do that! I can't be a lesbian, I've got my family, the corporation, and then they're gonna try to marry me off, and she just doesn't like me like that, and I don't deserve-"

"Whoah, whoah whoah! Hold your horses there little Miss. All those little reasons you just gave that you can't be together? Guess what those are."

"...Legitimate concerns?"

"Nope." He smiled, a bright and honest thing. "Complications. See, love is a thing. It's a feeling, an emotion. Love don't have a gender."

Her heart nearly exploded when he said the word love; it was much to soon for that, but she instead chose to focus on arguing her point. "But they're-"

"Nope. Complications."

"Then what about the-"

"Nope." He leaned closer to her, making sure his point was made crystal clear, as clear as the vodka in her glass. "Complications."

She stared at him blankly, her less-than-sober mind slowly accepting his advice as divine intervention.

"M-maybe... you might be right... but what do I do?"

"Hey, I'm just your bartender, not your therapist."

"Ugh..." She dropped her head down onto the bar.

"But, if you were to, say, go over to that girl that you obviously like a lot more than you'll admit, and talk to her about how you feel..." He slid a large glass of vodka towards her. "This'll help."

She slowly picked up her head, looking at him questioningly. Then she saw the liqueur. Her eyes flickered rapidly back and forth between him and the glass. Seconds passed. But then she made her decision. Swallowing decisively, she picked up the glass and downed the entire thing. She slammed it down, gasping and coughing as she attempted to massage her throat. It felt like it was on fire.

"Y-you bastard! What was that?"

"Oh, that little number? Heh, the strongest vodka we got. But like I said, it'll help. Now get going, and good luck."

She glanced towards Ruby, feeling the liquid courage flow through her veins like the fire that burned in front of the brunette. She looked back to the bartender, finding him with his back already turned, polishing another glass.

"Thank you... uh..." She realized she didn't know the bartenders name. "I never caught your name?"

"Miss," he said without turning around, "names aren't necessary in this profession. Just go on and do what feels right. Oh and, drinks are on the house."

"...Right. Thanks."

Confidently, she stood up and faced Ruby, determined to walk right up to her partner and explain her feelings, no matter the cost. Alcohol really was a crazy thing.

And half-way between the bar and the fireplace, alcohol was exactly what hit her, in full force. Vodka tended to sneak up on you. Weiss, for the first time in her life, was now well and truly drunk.

* * *

Ruby swirled her glass around again, gazing at the deep brown hues, watching how they mixed with each other. There was a profound sadness in her grey eyes, an indiscernible thing that mingled with the flame reflecting from her pupils. It was something that she couldn't have explained with words if she had tried. She sank further into the couch, the glow from the blaze casting strange shadows upon her face.

She heard footsteps behind her. Her heart jumped as it leapt to conclusions, hoping desperately that it was Weiss coming to talk to her, to look at her, _anything_ to show that she was aware of Ruby's pathetically small and inconsequential existence.

"Hey Ruby."

_"Oh. It's Yang..."_

"Me and Blake are gonna head out." Ruby didn't bother looking at them. "You gonna be fine here with Weiss?"

If Yang had been sober, she would have asked a multitude of other questions. Hey, you alright? You look down, what's up? Is something bothering you Ruby? Yo, you gonna be okay sis?

But this was drunk Yang, who was blissfully unaware of everything but her _immediate_ surroundings. Which in this case, was Blake's arm wrapped around her waist.

"Yeah, I... we'll be good. Goodnight you guys."

"Goodnight Ruby," Blake said.

"Night sis, seeya monday," Yang said. Her voice was already fading off into the distance, along with the sound of her footsteps. In the back of her mind, Ruby wondered what had happened to the spurred boots her sister had brought. Blake probably had something to do with that.

She sunk lower into the couch and sipped some more of her whiskey. The taste was honestly horrible, but the burning kept her mind off of the pain in her heart. Weiss was probably still at the bar, having the time of her life with the bartender. Sure, he looked like he was forty, and Weiss was only twenty, but she had always figured the heiress would be attracted to older men. Sophistication and wisdom, all that jazz.

An indeterminate amount of time passed. She sipped her drink. Her vision blurred at the edges. The fire crackled and sparked. She tried to think about something, _anything_ other than Weiss.

And then, lo and behold, the heiress herself unceremoniously plopped down next to her.

"Uh, h-hey Weiss. What're you-"

The words caught in her throat as her partner latched onto her arm and pulled herself closer, pressing up against Ruby and swinging her legs onto the brunettes.

_"Weiss is... in my lap..."_

Her cheeks flushed and her heart pounded like a jackhammer. She struggled to try and maintain her composure and still remember to breathe at the same time.

"Heeyyyy Ruby." Her voice was slurred, and Ruby realized that the heiress was _definitely_ not herself at this point. Weiss leaned closer, pressing her nose to the side of Ruby's neck and taking a deep whiff. "Mmm, you smell really nice. Like roses." The contact made her skin tingle, and electricity shot up her spine.

_"This can't be happening. This isn't real."_

"Why do you always smell like roses?"

Weiss had started to stroke her cheek and play with her hair. Ruby shivered and desperately tried to keep calm, to keep herself from returning the affection. She desperately wanted to respond in kind, but she knew that Weiss wasn't in the right state of mind. If she ever got the chance to show Weiss how she felt, she needed it to be _real_.

"I uh... it's my semblance. You know, like the rose petals that fly out everywhere when I go real fast?"

Weiss moaned softly, her fingers tracing patterns on Ruby's neck that felt like the most embarrassing, and yet the most stunningly wonderful sensations she had ever experienced. And the fact that it was Weiss stroking her neck made it all the more incredible. If only the heiress knew exactly what she was doing to her right now...

"Umm... are y-you okay Weiss?"

"Oh, I'm okay." She smiled against Ruby's neck as she nuzzled closer, somehow managing to press herself up even further against the tall brunette. When the heiress spoke, she could feel the words tickle her throat, her mouth being pressed up against it. "The question is, are you okay..."

"Uh, heh heh... yeah?"

"That's what I wanna hear..." Weiss replied. " You know, I just want you to be happy..."

"Y-you... you what?"

"I just... I wanna make you happy Ruby, I wanna make you as happy as you make me, because you really do. You're so, honest, and kind and thoughtful, and you do all these crazy things that I always say are annoying, but deep down I really like them because it means you care..." Her voice started to become strained and hitched in places. "And, and it's kinda sad, but I'm completely dependent on you to make me feel okay, and-"

Out of nowhere, Weiss broke down and started to sob uncontrollably, clutching the collar of Ruby's jacket and pressing her face into it.

Ruby had been speechless beforehand, as she listened to her her carefully constructed matrix of precise reasons why Weiss hated her get smashed apart by their originator herself. But now Weiss was crying. She couldn't be speechless anymore.

Ruby had an uncontrollable desire to help those in need, and right now, Weiss needed her, and the thought felt amazing. Somehow, she knew that Weiss didn't just need a shoulder to cry on. She needed a specific someone's shoulder. She needed her. And that felt incredible. Her heart swelled, and she felt warmer than she ever had before.

She wrapped her arms around the distraught girl and squeezed her tightly, whispering gently into her ear. She was finally getting the chance to share some of her love with Weiss. Even if the other girl was drunk, the opportunity to hold her close was not something she was going to let slip through her fingers.

"WeissWeissWeiss, ssshh, it's gonna be okay. I'm here, I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."

The white-haired girl struggled to speak in between sobs."Just, j-just don't leave me, okay?"

"Weiss, I will never leave you," she whispered. "Even if you go wandering off into the mountains or something crazy, I'll come and find you. I'll never leave you. Sshh, it's alright. I'm here."

"I-I can't say it enough, thank you," Weiss managed to choke out. "Thank you thank you thank you, so much, for everything you've ever done for m-me."

"Believe me, it's nothing," Ruby replied. She slowly swept her hand through the other girls hair, pulling it out of its ponytail. Billowing waves of pure white flowed and cascaded as Ruby watched. She was mesmerized as she ran her fingers through the softest hair she had ever felt.

_"The most beautiful thing in the world... She really is..."_

"I mean, what are partners for?"

Weiss looked up at her suddenly, her tear-filled eyes full of longing and hurt at the same time.

"W-well, that's the thing Ruby. There's something I want to t-tell you. I... I don't want to be partners... I want to be..."

Ruby's entire world stopped. Her existence hinged on Weiss' next words. Would she be with her partner at the end of the night? Or would she still be alone?

There were two distinct possibilities that flashed through her mind. Weiss could either say that she wanted to be more than friends, and all of Ruby's dreams would come true. Or, she could say that she didn't want to be partners anymore. Ruby didn't know if she could take that.

What her partner said next would decide her entire future. She felt it in her bones. The words she spoke next...

Didn't come.

Frantically she glanced down, noticing that Weiss' eyes were closed at the same time that she felt the heiress' grip slacken.

"Oh man... I can't believe this... no fucking way..." Ruby breathed.

Weiss had passed out.

"Weiss."

No response.

She pinched Weiss' cheek as gently as possible, pulling the soft flesh back and forth.

"Weiisss, wake up!"

Still, the _USS Rose_ detected no life signs.

"I can't believe you..." she whispered. "Oh crap... Yang and Blake already left. And I've had a lot of whiskey... so no driving..." She briefly wondered why she was talking to herself, before writing it off as a quirk of the intoxicated.

She glanced down at the unconscious girl in her arms, marveling at how soft her skin was, and wondering just how she was going to get her out of the bar.

_"I'm literally just going to have to carry her out... Well, better to do it now than later. Man, she's never gonna forgive me for this."_

Ruby stood up, cradling the heiress to her chest with one arm around her shoulders and another under her knees.

_"Huh, I'd always dreamed of carrying Weiss bridal style. This isn't how I imagined it though..."_

She began walking towards the bar's exit, wondering at how it was that the other girl was so light.

_"Like a feather... a beautiful, white, fluffy, feather. And she's all mine right now..."_

Ruby knew she would never be able to take advantage of Weiss if she tried, but it still gave her comfort knowing that she was the one that was there for her partner in her time of need. She wouldn't trade her position right now for any one in the world.

She used her foot to push open the bar's swinging doors, and right before she stepped outside into the cool night air, she noticed the bartender give her a wry smile. She wrote it off as she stepped out onto the sidewalk, looking up and down the street, trying to see past the people walking by her. If they were giving her weird looks, she didn't notice.

It had rained for a bit, and the street lights were reflected in puddles of water on the ground. A few cars drove past, their tires sending ripples through the pools and distorting the reflections. As far as she could see, two and three-story buildings gazed back at her, neon signs inviting her to try all manner of products and services.

Now, if she remembered their previous forays into Vale correctly, there should be a hotel right down... there!

She shifted the smaller girl in her arms, clutching her tighter to protect her from accusing glances and the chill that was now apparent in the air. Her destination set, she began walking, determination evident in each of her steps.

Faintly, she felt Weiss' icy aura reach out, as if probing its surroundings for threats. She felt it touch tentatively her own, and what happened next surprised her. On a spiritual level, she felt her partners aura embrace hers, mixing and mingling with it, accepting it and connecting with it on a level deeper than anything she had ever felt before. It almost felt like they were becoming one, and the sensation sent fire licking up her spine.

Weiss' aura had reached out while her physical body couldn't, and it had found Ruby's own aura right next to it. But instead of recoiling or rejecting it, it had welcomed the presence and allowed itself to flow into Ruby's, using the brunette's as a source of strength.

Ruby felt Weiss' aura slowly merging with her own, draining her for the strength that it needed. But she didn't stop it. She would do anything for Weiss, including give up her soul if need be. This was the most amazing thing she had ever felt, and she never wanted it to stop.

Maybe it was because of just who she protecting, but the air suddenly felt ominous and foreboding. The buildings seemed to lean in towards her, threatening her charge. She grit her teeth and dared someone to try something. Nothing would happen to the girl in her arms, the girl that she was hopelessly in love with. She would die before letting anyone even come close to trying.

_"Hold on Weiss, I've got you."_

The heiress' words from earlier sprang into her mind. _"Just don't leave me, okay?"_

She pulled Weiss just a little closer.

_"I won't leave you. Not now, not ever..."_

* * *

_**This one's for you MM-Hunter. Nothing too special, just showing some appreciation for someone who's been reading my work since my first Whiterose one-shot. Thanks.**_

_**Holy crap, sixty followers in two chapters, what are you guys doing :/**_

_**The song I opened with is "Moondust" by Jaymes Young. It's really amazing, and it goes great with the story. You should give it a listen. **_

_**DID YOU GUYS SEE EPISODE TWO OF VOLUME TWO? WHEN RUBY JUMPED IN WEISS' LAP AND WEISS SAID "SHUT UP, DON'T TOUCH ME," BUT SHE ONLY CLUTCHED RUBY CLOSER AND TOUCHED THEIR FOREHEADS TOGETHER?! WRRRRYYYYYY**_

_**And then Neptune hit on Weiss. I was punching my pillow for five minutes straight. I swear I will literally stop watching the show if that goes any further.**_

_**So I'm really trying to improve my writing lately, not so much spelling and grammar as actual technique. Describing outfits, emotions, writing actions, all of that. I've been reading writing blogs, studying up on various techniques, etc., and I was wondering if you guys could help out. If you could, please point out anything that sounded awkward, or read weird, or just didn't sound right. Maybe something was too drawn out, or maybe a scene description was boring. Anything like that, please point it out so I can identify my flaws and work on them. I'd really appreciate that.**_

_**Reviews are always welcomed.**_


	4. Chapter 3 - Starlight

_**Far away  
This ship is taking me far away  
Far away from the memories  
Of the people who care if I live or die **_

_**Starlight  
I will be chasing the starlight  
Until the end of my life  
I don't know if it's worth it anymore **_

_**Hold you in my arms  
I just wanted to hold  
You in my arms **_

_**But I'll never let you go  
If you promise not to fade away  
Never fade away **_

_**Our hopes and expectations  
Black holes and revelations **_

_**I'll never let you go**_

_**If you promise not to fade away**_

* * *

Wan light filtered into the room, slowly creeping across the carpet and up the bed as the hours of the morning passed by. Eventually, they reached the bed's occupant, who grimaced and stirred as beams of sunlight conspired to irritate her eyelids and force her out of sleep.

Weiss Schnee awoke, dizzy, thirsty, and incredibly confused.

_"Where... am I?"_

She sat up, wincing as the room spun slightly. Gingerly easing her eyes the rest of the way open, she gazed around the room. It was small, and judging by the immaculate furnishings, channel guide next to the television, and fire escape plan posted on the wall, she surmised that she was in a hotel room. The walls were painted a dim yellow, and the carpet was deep green, like evergreens in the mountains. The colors did their best to give the room an atmosphere of warmth and welcome, but to Weiss, it felt far too artificial for her to be comfortable in. Also, she was the only person in the room, and to wake up by yourself in an unfamiliar location is an unnerving sensation.

Glancing under the sheets, she realized that she was still fully dressed in the clothes that she had worn... to where? As she pondered the question, she unconsciously attempted to swallow, and nearly choked. Her throat screamed at her, demanding aid in the form of liquid, any liquid.

She swung her legs out of the noticeably warm and comfortable sheets, bracing herself before attempting to stand on her own two legs. As expected, she stumbled slightly before managing to brace herself against a nearby wall.

_"The bathroom. Got to get to the bathroom. Water. Need water."_

Her throat felt like a desert, parched beyond belief. She slowly shuffled into the bathroom and picked up one of the plastic cups that were provided for hotel guests. After filling it with water, she impatiently drank the entire cup in one large gulp. She filled the cup back up, and slammed it down again. And again. And again.

Eventually, the dizziness went away, as did the dryness of her throat. The confusion, however, remained.

_"How did I end up in this hotel room? There's only one bed so... did I come here alone? What happened last night?"_

She gazed at herself in the mirror and realized how haggard and sleep-deprived she looked.

_"Well for starters, a shower would sure be nice..."_

In fact, a shower sounded like the best thing in the world right now.

* * *

The task proved more difficult than she had expected. Not only did she almost slip in the tub **three** times, but the water couldn't maintain a constant temperature; it fluctuated between uncomfortably cold, infuriatingly lukewarm, and blazing hot. Also, she managed to drop the tiny bottle of shampoo that the hotel saw fit to bestow upon her, spilling the contents down the drain.

All in all, it was a terrible shower, and Weiss was in a considerably worse mood when she stepped out of the bathroom with her body wrapped in a towel.

She kept her eyes on the floor as she walked, but froze when she heard the sound of cloth sliding over skin.

Whipping her head up, she was treated to a view from... her worst nightmares? Her deepest fantasies? She couldn't tell.

Ruby was standing by the door, pulling her shirt over her head, and her lacy black bra did a very poor job of containing her...

_"Oh my god her abs... why haven't I noticed those before..."_

Ruby, it would seem, did indeed possess the most defined set of abs that she could ever remember seeing. The brunette grunted as she finished pulling the shirt over herself, jolting Weiss back into reality as she remembered exactly whose musculature she was currently admiring. She turned to the side, pretending to busy with herself with her clothes, which she had neatly folded on the bed. She realized how awkward this would be for her if she wasn't the one to break the silence. She had to take control of the situation.

"Hey Ruby."

"O-oh! Hi Weiss! I uh, didn't see you come out of the bathroom. How... how are you feeling?"

The heiress looked over at Ruby, relieved to see she had finished changing. Her partner had a weird look to her though, almost as if she was nervous and afraid of something.

"I'm fine, a lot better now that I've showered. I assume the reason I felt so horrible this morning is because I drank last night?"

Ruby nodded her head, still looking just as nervous as before.

"...Yang's doing?"

Another head nod. That was it.

"Ruby, what's wrong with you? Why do you look so apprehensive? Afraid I'm going to bite your head off?"

"Aha no, it's just... how much of last night do you remember?"

Weiss looked down in thought, slowly dragging up memories of the night prior.

"I... we went to bar, I remember that. And I remember arguing with Yang about something, and then, oh I remember talking to the bartender for a while... about..."

And then she remembered, in crystal clear detail, her determination to tell Ruby how she felt about her. And after that, nothing. A grey fog of uncertainty that terrified her with its possibilities.

"And I don't remember anything after that."

Ruby nervously looked down at her feet. "Oh. Um..."

Normally, Weiss would be content to just let things lie. But Ruby clearly knew something, and she was in no mood for games at this point. "What."

"Huh?"

"You clearly know what happened. Just tell me."

"I... I reaaalllly don't know if I should, you'll probably get really mad, and I don't want that."

"Ruby," Weiss said forcefully, her hands on her hips. "Tell me. I promise I won't get mad at you."

"Well... you... okay..." Ruby hung her head. "I was just sitting at the fireplace by myself, a-and after you finished talking to the bartender, you came over and sat next to me."

"Okay. What did we... talk about?"

"See that's kiinnddaa the thing... we didn't do much talking. You kind of... got really touchy-feely."

Weiss felt her cheeks start to burn. "...What do you mean?"

"You snuggled like... real close to me..."

More blushing. _"Curse you, blood. Curse you for rushing to my face."_

"A-and then you were like, playing with my hair, and you told me that you wanted me to be happy, because I make you happy..."

At this point, she realized, she was blushing profusely. But she didn't turn away or leave. She had to know everything that had happened last night.

"I..." A possibility occurred to the heiress, and she narrowed her eyes. "You're not screwing with me, are you?"

Ruby held her hands up defensively. "Of course not! I promise I'm telling the truth! Cuz like, after you told me that you just broke down and started crying, and I kind of held you and you asked me not to leave you, and you said a lot of really nice things about me, and then, and then I thought you were about to say something else but then you just... passed out."

The room seemed cold and empty in the wake of Ruby's declaration. The brunette too, seemed deflated somehow.

"So I picked you up. And I carried you to this hotel. I don't have a lot of money, so I could only afford one bed. I slept on the floor, don't worry. You were sleeping pretty soundly, and I figured you might be hungry. I went to go get you some breakfast before you woke up." She pointed towards a plastic bag. "It's right there if you want it."

Weiss was speechless. The knowledge that Ruby had done all of that for her, had carried her to safety, had bought her a hotel room with what little money she had... She had even put Weiss in the only bed while she slept on the floor, and then went to get her breakfast...

She couldn't comprehend, couldn't understand how someone could show her that much kindness, with no expectation of a reward, simply because... why? Why did Ruby do all of these things for her without a moment of hesitation? This ability to be this nice to someone, especially to someone who was undeniably cold and difficult to get along with, it just didn't click in her brain. She hadn't been raised that way; the concept of kindness for kindness' sake was unknown to her.

And then it hit her. _That_ was why she felt so safe and, well, normal around Ruby. Because the girl was the exact opposite of how she was raised, the antithesis of her life as heiress of Schnee Dust. Whereas her former life was withdrawn, harsh, judgmental and cold, Ruby was open, loving, friendly, and always optimistic. She didn't have to live up to any set of standards or expectations while she was with Ruby. The brunette never seemed to want anything more than for her to be herself, and to be happy with it.

In short, she realized, Ruby was nowhere near perfect, but she was perfect for _her_. She knew then, that just _being_ with Ruby would give her happiness for the rest of her days. And the realization was terrible, because it something she could never allow to happen.

They could never be together. Her station, her life, her parents, none of them would ever allow it. She felt her heart shrivel up like a withered flower, feeling the pain like a knife driven into her chest.

_"That's funny,"_ she thought. A sad chuckle echoed through her mind. _"Heh, I never knew heartache could be an actual, physical pain... all the stories lied."_

Weiss was pulled back into reality as Ruby cleared her throat. The brunette folded her hands behind her back, nervously rubbing her foot back and forth on the carpet.

"Um, Weiss, was there... what were you going to say? Last night, before you passed out?"

Weiss met Ruby's gaze with her own. She didn't know why, but the brunette's eyes were filled with hope, and yet, fear as well.

_"What is she afraid of? And what is she hoping for?"_

Alas, she knew she didn't have the time to ponder the implications. She had to shut this down now. Maybe Ruby felt the same way. Maybe she didn't. Either way, it would be easier and less painful in the end, she knew, to just keep things where they were. Friends, partners, nothing more. At least, that's what she kept telling herself over and over. It didn't help the pain at all.

"Oh, that. I was going to say..."

_"I was going to say that I have these crazy feelings for you, that you make me happy when no one else can, and you're always there for me no matter what. When you're around, I get butterflies in my chest, my throat tingles, and I almost can't breathe sometimes. When you're in the same room as me, I don't want you to look at anyone else but me. I'm desperate for your attention, for you to notice me and validate my existence. I have no idea how you feel about me, but I just want to say that I like you. In **that** way, and I'll let you do with that as you will."_

"That I think you're an amazing partner and a fantastic person, for everything you've ever done for me. Thank you."

Ruby nodded her head slowly. "I... you're welcome." Her face remained neutral, but the nervous shuffling had stopped, and her arms were now hanging limp by her sides.

"Are you okay?"

Her partner jolted a bit, before looking back at her with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. Those beautiful grey orbs, always so full of life and energy, looked dead and dull. That, more than anything else, was what broke her heart. Knowing that she was causing Ruby internal pain, after all that her partner had done for her and how kindly she treated her, it was almost too much for her heart to bear.

But she was a strong girl. That was at least one good byproduct of her upbringing. She was determined and stubborn; she had been taught well the ways of closing ones'-self off emotionally.

And so the two of them stood there in silence, Weiss' expression blank and unreadable, and Ruby with a fake, dead smile.

Ruby spoke first, her voice sounding pained and unnatural. "I'm... gonna go check my laundry, I'll be back in a bit."

"Okay."

Ruby opened the door and stepped outside, sending one last quick glance to the heiress, as if giving her room to say something, anything. But Weiss answered with silence, and the brunette shut the door.

_"Were those... tears gathering in her eyes?"_

The thought that Ruby would cry over her when she deserved nothing more than to be forgotten was too much. She was already completely emotionally exhausted. Her knees buckled, and she lost the ability to support her own weight as she slumped down against door. All the pain and regret she held inside came rushing out at once, forcing her to face it all, accusing her of being a soulless monster with a black heart.

And she couldn't deny any of the accusations.

She curled up, hugging her knees to her chest. And then she cried, and cried, and cried.

* * *

Ruby was true to her word. She went to the laundry room, a small, dusty space with a few racks of old decrepit washers and dryers. Her face was blank and expressionless; gone was the smile she had worn earlier. She was glad to she didn't have to fake it for Weiss anymore. She pretended to check a random dryer until the room's other occupant, a middle-aged balding man, left. And then she locked the door behind him. She didn't want to be walked in on; it was an early warning system if someone needed in, and she could just explain that it had locked on its own when she had come in.

She slid down against the door and let everything go. She started to cry. This was it, it was all over, her mind told her. The little fragment of hope she had held onto, the one that said that she and Weiss could be together one day, was now nothing but ashes. It had burned up in the fireplace back at the Rising Sun. Maybe she would find someone else someday, some other person to fall deeply in love with. But she didn't want that, she just wanted Weiss. She wanted her more than she had ever wanted anything in her entire life. Even more than she wanted to see her mother again, as selfish as that seemed.

She would get over these feelings eventually, she knew. But that time was not now.

And so she cried, and cried, and cried.

* * *

There was a knocking on the door, and Weiss rushed over to it. She had finished crying a while ago- her tear ducts were finally spent. She had cleaned her face and put on what little makeup she always carried with her, to hide the redness of her eyes. She opened the door.

"Hi Weiss!"

It was Ruby, smiling as brightly as ever. And this time, the smile seemed genuine.

"...Hey Ruby." She didn't want to dwell on the past. She needed to move on as quickly as possible, to minimize the damage it could cause to her. "You know it's Monday? We've already missed most of today's classes."

"Yeah, I know. I already called up Yang, and she told our professors that we were sick. They seemed pretty understanding apparently."

"Oh. What did you tell Yang about me?"

"Just that you passed out, and I had to get to a hotel room. She thought it was hilarious."

Weiss huffed in response. "Of course she did, the uncouth brute. Well, I cleaned the room and I have all of my things, are you ready to check out?"

"Yeap, I didn't really have anything to begin with though, eh heh."

"Alright then, let's go." Weiss stepped outside and closed the door behind her, following Ruby as they walked down the three sets of stairs between them and the hotel's registration lobby. At the front desk, Ruby handed back their room keys with a happy smile and a warm "thank you."

_"How is she always so gosh-darn happy? And even around me too... I know I can't be helping matters at all."_

Then she remembered just who had paid for the room, and with limited funds too. It had taken her a while because she was usually the one paying for the team's expenses, seeing as how her wallet was nearly bottomless.

As they walked out of the lobby and onto the street to look for a taxi, Weiss spoke up. "Ruby, thank you for paying for that hotel room. I know you don't have a lot of money, and it really means a lot to me that you would do that for me."

"Oh don't give me that, we're partners remember? We do that kind of stuff for each other."

"Yes, well, regardless, I want to show my appreciation somehow. A Schnee doesn't just take a debt lying down. Is there a way I can make it up to you?"

Meeting Ruby's surprised gaze, she saw something indiscernible flicker in her eyes, but it passed quickly. The brunette put her finger on her chin, humming thoughtfully.

"Hmm... Ooh, I know! You can make me cookies!"

"Really?" She sighed softly, but couldn't keep a grin off of her face. "You mean make, or buy?"

"Well _obviously_ I want you to make them silly! I could just go out and buy some of my own if that's what I wanted. But I really love your cookies, so that'll be my payment!"

"Well, alright then. I haven't baked in a while, so don't expect anything too special."

"Something tells me I'll love them no matter what," Ruby whispered.

"Speak up Ruby, I can't hear you when you mumble like that." Cars were driving by as well, making it doubly hard for the heiress to hear Ruby's statement. "And the traffic doesn't help either. You have to remember to take your surroundings into account when you speak."

_"Well at least I'm feeling good enough to lecture her."_

Ruby sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck. "I just said that uh, I'll probably like them anyway. Can't screw up cookies you know?"

"Oh trust me, you can. Now, if I'm going to do this I'll need ingredients, so we'll have to go to a store."

"Yeah we can just stop by one on the way back to the air station. I mean, we've pretty much missed school today anyway. Might as well take our time getting back."

Weiss glared at Ruby, attempting to non-verbally reprimand her for openly admitting to slacking. "If you say so. I for one, happen to enjoy learning new things. And you should welcome the opportunity as well. Dust knows you need more knowledge pounded into that thick skull of yours."

"Yeesh, stop lecturing me for one second would you?" She laughed as she said it though, and Weiss knew she was just joking around. She decided to fire back.

"I bet you'd like that, wouldn't you. Well then," she asked in a shrill tone. "What is the principal diet of the female Deathstalker?"

"Beowolves."

"Correct. But what are their secondary and tertiary sources of food?"

"Uh... humans? Berries?"

Weiss stuck her nose up in her air. "Wrong."

"Ugh. That's not fair, that's not even fourth-year stuff. Nobody knows that but crazy Grimm buffs."

"_And_ people who actually study the books they're assigned. You're hopeless. Look, here comes a taxi."

Ruby sighed and followed Weiss' gaze, both of them flagging down the oncoming vehicle. As it slowed down, the heiress spoke up. "Guess what we're doing when we get back to Beacon?"

Ruby gave a groan of utter defeat and slouched over.

"That's right, we're studying. And _if_ you do well, then I'll bake you not one, but **two** batches of cookies."

"At least there's hope," Ruby mumbled. "There's always hope, right?"

* * *

The taxi rolled slowly down the busy street, weaving in and out of traffic as it sought to reach it's passengers intended destination as quickly as possible. Less time on each trip meant more trips in a workday, and more trips meant more money. Such was the life of a taxi driver.

Ruby was slouched over against the right side window, giving Weiss the opportunity to gaze out of the other one, and sometimes back at her partner, and just think. She rested her chin on the palm of her hand and watched the bustling city slide by.

_"Things only get easier from here,"_ she told herself. "_We'll just be like this, partners and friends, until the end of graduation. Then I'll get married to someone, and she'll forget about cranky old Weiss and get to be a Huntress, just like she dreamed about. She'll get her happily ever after, probably meet some great guy that really cares about her, and that'll be that. And I'll fade away into obscurity, just like I want."_

She turned slowly and looked at Ruby, smiling at the placid expression on her face, watching her chest slowly rise and fall. She looked perfectly tranquil and at peace with the world. Completely free from guilt, worry, strife, and regret. _Free._

Weiss smiled sadly, realizing that this was how things had to be. For Ruby to be happy, she had to bury her own feelings.

Slowly, she leaned over and placed a feather-light kiss on Ruby's forehead. Her skin was warm and soft against the heiress' lips.

_"This is enough for me. It has to be."_

* * *

"Ooh! I love those cheese crackers! And oh look, they've got Bo-Cola! Let's get some icing too! Icing cookies! Oh my gah are those pizza rollers!? Oh don't forget milk. And more soda. We need more of that. More of everything actually! And remember orange juice, we definitely need some-

"Ruby!"

"Huh?"

They were walking down the aisles of a local grocery store, the sickly aromas of rubber flooring and sterilized packaging drifting through the air, along with the scents of various foods. Ruby was inspecting every single item, on either side of the aisle, flickering back and forth with the help of her semblance.

"I swear, shopping with you is like shopping with a small child. We're _only_ here to get the things I need to bake you cookies. Flour, baking soda, salt, butter, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and eggs," she listed off.

"Aaand milk."

Weiss looked confused. "Milk? You don't need milk to make cookies you dolt."

"Well what do you want me to dip them in, tap water?"

Weiss grimaced. "Ugh, whatever. Just, go and get the milk then. Most of the ingredients I need are on the same aisle anyway."

Ruby saluted comically. "Aye aye Major Schnee! Sergeant Rose has received her mission, and is off to secure the precious cargo!"

Her partner sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Just go."

The taller girl giggled and dropped the salute, then turned around and walked off towards the back of the store where the frozen and refrigerated goods were kept. Weiss turned and headed in the opposite direction.

Ruby sighed and took her time getting to the milk. While she walked, she thought about Weiss. As usual. She couldn't keep the other girl off of her mind.

_"Well, at least things are sorta back to normal. We're not really awkward anymore. She's lecturing me again, at least. I guess... I think I could be okay with this. It'll be a while, but I think I can... get over her..." _For some reason, the thought of simply "getting over" Weiss felt like a horrible betrayal of the other girl. Almost as if she had a duty to save the heiress from herself.

_"Ah, here we are, milk." _

She spared a cursory glance up and down the aisle, vaguely noticing that it was vacant except ford a man in a grey sweatshirt, who appeared to be comparing brands of orange juice.

_"Now... what kind of milk do I want..."_

The different brands and fat percentages all seemingly shouted at her, pleading with her to choose them and not the others.

_"Hmm. Two percent is the best, but I don't know if I should be drinking that much fat. Well, obviously not skim, that stuff tastes like crap. What about one percent?"_

Being completely absorbed in the world of the thirty-first great milk debate, she didn't hear or see the man in the sweatshirt slowly walk up behind her.

As if in a dream, she heard the distinctive click of a safety being flicked off. Something cold and hard pressed up against the back of her head.

"C'mon lady, let's make this quick. Just give me everything in your pockets and I'll go." The man sounded tired, as if he had done this many times before and was growing weary of it.

Ruby froze, her combat instincts kicking in and her brain racing.

_"Crap, I don't have Crescent Rose. Can I grab the gun?"_

Even with her speed, she realized, she might not be able to move fast enough. If he had left the pistol on safe, she could have used her semblance to turn the tables. But with it off, who knew how fast his reflexes were. She still had to brace herself, broadcasting her movements, before she was able to move as quickly as she needed. And something in his tone told her that he wouldn't hesitate to end her life if he had too. He sounded done. Done with life, done with the world. A man with nothing to lose.

Ruby realized she had heard that tone before, from someone else. The realization hit her like a freight train.

_"Weiss. Weiss has sounded like that sometimes. Is she just like him? Finished with it all?"_

Unfortunately she had concerns more pressing at the moment than Weiss' mental state.

"Lady, I'm warning you, stop stalling or I'll blow your brains all over the milk. And that'd be pretty unpleasant."

"Uh, you do know they have cameras in this place right?"

She could hear the sneer in his voice as he replied. "Obviously that's why I had them disabled before this. Now quit _fucking_ stalling. I don't wanna kill you, but I will."

Just as he finished speaking, in her soul she felt a familiar aura flare up a small distance from her. It was strange feeling, like a sixth sense with no dimensions. Just a vague concept of distance with an emphasis on familiarity. It felt like reaching out into utter darkness and feelings someones fingers brush your own. But instead of fingers, everyone was wearing a distinctive type of textured glove, and you could recognize the glove they were wearing and take their hand.

Judging from how cold it felt, and the fact that it was somehow familiar to her, she determined that it must be Weiss'. The heiress' aura must have felt her own flare up in response to the life-or-death situation, sort of like a spiritual SOS. If Weiss knew she was in danger, then she realized all she had to do was wait this out. Weiss would come for her.

_"Okay Ruby, commence operation stall-the-crap-out-of-this-guy."_

"What if someone sees you and just calls the cops? I doubt you could get out the front entrance quickly enough before they show up."

"Well obviously I'll just run out the employee exit in the back. What, you think this is my first robbery or- hey! I see what you're doing!"

He grabbed her roughly by the shoulder and spun her around, forcing her backwards against the chilled glass of the milk display. She winced as he dug his fingers in around her collarbone.

"Don't you **touch** her!"

The man spun in surprise, just in time to howl in pain as Weiss furiously drove a large kitchen knife into his shoulder. He dropped the gun and collapsed to the floor. Furious, Weiss knelt next to him, the knife still firmly lodged in his flesh. She slapped him hard across the face.

"Look at me!"

He opened his eyes and looked up, pain evident in his scrunched up features.

She glared at him with eyes like glaciers. When she spoke, her tone was low and threatening, as deadly as a viper.

"You're lucky she's here. Otherwise, I would end your life right here, right now. I am Weiss Schnee, and the police wouldn't be able to pin a single thing on me. Be thankful to Ruby for your life." With that, she twisted the knife slightly, and yanked it out of his shoulder. "What little it's worth," she spat.

A few people had started to gather at the edges of the aisle, holding their hands over their mouths and gasping in shock. A few were on their scrolls or cell phones, undoubtedly calling the police.

"Wow."

Weiss jolted, glancing to her right as if she had forgotten Ruby was there.

"Oh... uh, sorry you had to see that Ruby."

"Relax. We've killed dozens of Grimm, remember? A little blood is nothing new."

"Yes but, this is... a human."

"You're acting like this is the first time I've been mugged. Well, attempted to be... mugged. Something like that. I got into Beacon by beating the snot out of a bunch of Torchwick's goons who were robbing a dust store. Forget about that?"

"Yes, I remember. Sometimes I just forget how... grown up you are."

The man on the ground finally spoke up. "Can you two shut up and get me some fucking help?! She stabbed me in the arm!"

"You were going to shoot my partner," Weiss yelled back.

"Yeah, well I didn't!"

"Because I stabbed you!"

_"Ooh crap she's getting angry again. I better get her out of here before she stabs that guy. Again."_

Ruby gently laid her hand on Weiss' shoulder. "Cmon, let's just go outside and wait for the cops. We don't need to sit here and talk to this a-hole."

The heiress sighed gently, almost as if Ruby's touch was enough to calm her down. _"Heh, I wish,"_ she thought._  
_

"You're right." The white-haired girl looked up and smiled at her partner, and Ruby's heart melted. "But aren't you forgetting something?"

"Uh... the knife?"

Weiss smirked. "The milk?"

"Oh right! Hey, since I almost got shot, do I get a double batch of cookies?"

The heiress chuckled softly. "We'll see."

* * *

The sun was setting. But it wasn't leaving without giving the world a goodbye present. A magnificent kaleidoscope of orange, purple, red, and every shade in between could be seen decorating the massive cloud banks hanging high up in the air. Closer towards the top of the sky was the deep blue of space, and a few stars could already be seen twinkling in the heavens.

Ruby and Weiss walked side by side down the cobblestone pathway that led from the air station to Beacon Academy. They were both doing their best not to walk too close to each other, but for some reason their hands and arms kept brushing together. Every time it happened Weiss tried to hide her blush, and Ruby pretended to look up into the sky. And still, neither of them made a move to walk any further apart.

"This is a really pretty sunset huh?" Ruby's face lit up in a gentle smile, and the setting sun lit fires in her eyes and gave her face a radiant glow. Weiss couldn't help but stare.

Ruby bumped into her again, jolting her back into reality. She smiled in agreement. "Yes, it is. Probably one of the most beautiful things I've seen here."

_"And you're one of them,"_ she wanted to finish, as a light blush colored her cheeks. _"Ugh, when did I turn into a hopeless romantic?"_

They were nearing their dorm when Ruby's scroll started to play an uplifting, upbeat song.

Weiss sighed, she remembered how Ruby had set that song as the ringtone for a message from Yang. And honestly, she just wanted to be alone with her partner for as long as possible.

"Yang?" she asked.

"Yeap," Ruby replied. "She wants to know what time I'll be back. Ugh, she can be so overprotective. I mean It's not like I'm nineteen or anything crazy like that."

"Did you let her know we'll be up shortly?"

Ruby looked confused. "Uh, no, but I was about to. Why?"

"If you tell her we'll be a little while longer, we can watch the sunset from that bench by the oak tree."

"Ooh, you mean the one on that big hill?!"

Weiss smiled, amused at how easily Ruby could get excited over seemingly trivial thing. It had been one of the quirks that annoyed her the most when she was still getting to know the girl. Now, it was one of her favorite things about her. "Cmon, let's go."

Ruby giggled and sent the message to Yang, before following Weiss away from the dorms and towards the vast cliff side.

On a large hill near the edge of the cliff-top stood a magnificent oak tree. The view was fantastic: the City of Vale in all it's splendor. The tree itself was old and grey, but its leaves were just as green as they had been when it was young. Its branches were thick and gnarled, providing plenty of shade to passers-by during the hot summer months.

Under the tree was an ancient stone bench that faced the cliff, with no back, because the backing was the trunk of the oak itself. For some reason, the branches on the cliff-facing side of the tree curled upwards as they grew, which provided for a grand view that encompassed the sky and the city itself when one sat upon the bench.

All in all, it was a place where someone could sit for hours, and simply gaze out upon the world.

Ruby ran up the hill like a little girl, slipping once or twice as she lost her footing in the thick grass.

"Don't trip you dolt! You'll break something like that!" Weiss herself was striding up the hill with dignity and grace, careful to take measured steps.

"Oh please, I'd never- oof!"

Ruby lost her footing just at the top, falling onto her side and rolling back down the hill a bit. Weiss bent down and dragged her partner up by the hood of her cloak.

The white-haired girl sighed gently. "What would you do without me?"

Ruby smiled down at her. "I dunno, probably die or something. Thanks."

The brunette carefully trudged the last few steps up to the top of the hill. She bent over and brushed some old leaves from the bench, and they caught in the wind and went floating out over the cliff-top. Gesturing for Weiss to take a seat first, she sat down to the heiress' right.

They sat there in silence, gazing out at the setting sun. Close, but not close enough to be uncomfortable. The air was warm and almost nostalgic, a memory of their first year at Beacon when they would come here together to watch the sunset. A bored Ruby had found Weiss here one day, and remarked on how lonely Weiss looked silhouetted against the fading sun. Weiss had told her not to worry about it, but Ruby had followed her to the hill ever since. This was the first time they had done this in a few months. A gently breeze rustled through the grass and the leaves of the oak, stirring them with a rustling sound. Weiss glanced at Ruby, noticing that the girl had her head in the clouds. The fading sunlight streaming through the leaves danced upon her face as the wind blew the branches to and fro. A faint smile played on her lips, which seemed unusually round and red to the heiress.

_"Almost... inviting..." _She mentally shook herself, wishing yet again that she could be rid of her feelings for Ruby. _"I can do this. I can let her go. This is no problem. No problem for a Schnee. We're cold, and hard, and we've always been that way. I can do this."_

"Hey Weiss?"

The heiress jumped a little, and Ruby glanced at her in confusion. "You okay?"

"Yes I was just... distracted by the sunset."

"Heh, yeah, it's really pretty. Um, so anyway, I just wanted to thank you for saving my life back at the store." Ruby kicked her legs back and forth nervously. "I know it might not seem like much, but I was actually closer to dying right then that I have been in a long time. That guy would have pulled the trigger in a few more seconds. I could... feel it."

The realization that her partner had almost died was something she had been trying not to acknowledge, but Ruby's words forced her to. They awoke the fears that she had been trying not to face. Her partner had almost died. _Died_. She had experienced a life without Ruby before, that much was true. But she hadn't experienced a life where Ruby didn't exist. Where Ruby was gone, with no hope of ever coming back. The thought sent such a brutal pang of despair into her heart that for a second, she lost the ability to breathe.

_"Could I stand living anymore, knowing that I never told her how I felt? She's right, we only have one life... one life to do with as we choose... but what do I choose? What do I want? Is this, this partnership, this friendship with the most amazingly beautiful and kind woman I have ever met enough? Is this enough for me?"_ Her thoughts seemed to scream at her._ "**Is this enough!?**"  
_

"Weiss? Hey, you okay?"

She snapped her head to the right, nearly bumping into Ruby's forehead as the brunette recoiled backwards.

"Whoah, what's wrong? You were gasping for air there for a sec. Were you like, hyperventilating?""

"No I'm... I'm fine."

"You know you can tell me anything, right?" There was a sad look in Ruby's eyes as she said that, and Weiss realized that she probably still felt hurt after what had been said earlier, in the hotel room.

_"Right, anything. Anything but this."_

She felt something warm on her hand. She looked down, to see that Ruby had placed her comparatively larger hand over her own. The touch was electric, tingling and strange. But she didn't recoil or draw her hand back, because she liked it. Ruby's hand fit over hers like a piece of a puzzle slotting into another; it felt _right_ somehow. And it was more than just a physical feeling, it was Ruby displaying the simplest way that she could that she was there for her. It filled her heart with warmth, and she didn't want the sensation to ever end.

"So are you gonna tell me what's wrong?"

She looked back up, only to find Ruby staring right at her, her storm-cloud grey eyes seeming to pierce her soul. She stared right back, unable to break the gaze. There was something else in Ruby's eyes, something she hadn't seen before. Something that danced around in the fading sunlight, just beyond her understanding.

_"Wait..."_

There it was: a hidden maturity, a soft glint of wisdom. And that was when she realized that Ruby wasn't naive. It wasn't as if she wasn't aware of what dangers the world held and how cruel it could be. It wasn't as if she was ignorant as to what fate could befall her and her friends. No, she understood far more than anyone gave her credit for. It was amazing, she had seen the worst life had to offer. Muggings, robbings, murders, entire villages slaughtered by Grimm, Weiss knew she had even seen her own mother die. And yet through all of that, Ruby _chose_, by sheer force of will to remain happy and upbeat. She took all the world could throw at her with open arms, and simply accepted it with a smile. She didn't let the world drag her down. She was free of it; she had decided to take her own path. To find her own happiness.

_"Happiness. She is choosing... to find her own happiness. Isn't that what we all deserve, in the end? The right to choose?"_

Ruby smiled at her, as if encouraging her to speak her mind. As if to show her that she would accept whatever Weiss had to say with no judgement or repercussions.

_"More than anyone else has ever done for me."_

Ruby squeezed her hand slightly, and the sensation sent a warm tingling from her fingers to her spine, down to her legs and back up again. The last few rays of sunlight danced on Ruby's face and in her eyes. Weiss decided it was the most gorgeous thing she had ever seen.

_"Is this... enough?_"

She felt her aura flare up, perhaps in response to the intensity of the emotions she was experiencing. And Ruby's flared up in return.

_"This is not enough. This is **not** enough. **This is not enough**!"_

She decided in a fraction of a second; she would confess all her feelings to Ruby. No hesitation, no second-guessing, no dreading the repercussions. She had to tell her now, while the moment was perfect. Before she could talk herself out of it and regret it for the rest of her life. Because now she finally realized, that simply being partners and friends with Ruby wasn't enough. She wanted more. She_ n__eeded _more. If she ever wanted to experience true and lasting happiness in this short life-time, she realized, she would have to take a leap of faith.

_"And at least if she doesn't reciprocate these feelings, I can just forget about them, and that'll be that. But first... I have to tell her. Consequences be damned."_

She was ready. It was now or never.

She opened her mouth, ready to speak her mind, _finally_, after _so_ damn long of bottling everything up inside. She wasn't nervous. Not anymore.

But then something unexpected happened. Maybe it was because of the physical attraction to Ruby that she had denied having for so long. Maybe it because she knew, deep down, that words would fail her if she tried to use them. Maybe it was something more instinctive, more primal. Whatever the reason, her gaze slipped downwards slightly, from Ruby's eyes to her lips. They looked so soft and inviting, the gentlest shade of red imaginable. That was the last thing she remembered thinking, her last conscious thought.

Her mind went blank. She vanished into a beautiful white and crimson space, pleasantly lost and floating in an incredible feeling of warmth and acceptance. Vaguely, she realized that she wanted to stay here. This place was safe.

But then a soft moaning drew her back into reality. She opened her eyes, not remembering ever closing them in the first place.

And then those same eyes went wide with shock. Ruby's face was less than an inch from her own. And her eyes were as wide as Weiss'. The alien sensation coming from her lips confirmed it.

She was kissing Ruby. She was _**kissing**_, Ruby.

* * *

_"Oh my... oh my gah... she's-she's kissing me! Weiss is kissing me! Mmm, cherry lip balm! But she's kissing me!"_

Ruby froze up. Not due to any conscious decision on her part, but simply because she hadn't prepared for, even _considered_ the possibility that this might, in her wildest dreams, actually happen. One second, Weiss had been staring at her, like she had been about to say something. But then, out of nowhere, Weiss had leaned forward and placed her lips upon her own.

To say Ruby was surprised would be a heinous understatement. She didn't know whether to feel happy, relieved, scared, nervous, or everything in between. Weiss' lips were firm and smooth, and almost cold. She didn't care though. Weiss' lips could have been made of sandpaper for all it mattered to her. What mattered is that the heiress was kissing her._ Weiss was kissing her._

The kiss, if one could call it that, lasted only a few seconds. Ruby stayed stock-still the entire time, her shell-shocked mind struggling to make sense of the situation and formulate an appropriate response.

Unfortunately though, it seemed Weiss had interpreted her apparent paralyzation as something else. The heiress drew back suddenly, wiping her mouth with the back of her sleeve and glancing around with crazed eyes. Her gaze met Ruby's, and the brunette could see the fear- no, the terror in them.

Weiss stumbled backwards off of the bench, slipping in the grass as she sprinted down the hill. Ruby was screaming at her body, willing it to move, to act, to do something, anything.

"W-Weiss... come back..." she managed to croak._ "Why is she running from me?!"_

But by then, the heiress was already gone.

In the distance, the sun disappeared beneath the horizon.

* * *

Ruby was an unstoppable ball of motion, a crimson blur picked out by the light of the moon. She never stopped moving, never stopped looking, searching, exploring every nook and cranny of Beacon Academy. Looking for one thing. Looking for Weiss.

Her thoughts were racing nearly as fast as her feet were, and for someone whose semblance was speed, that was an impressive feat. The other students were all either asleep or in their rooms at this point. The campus was empty and silent, save for the sound of rushing wind as Ruby flew down its stone pathways. Somehow this make Beacon's gothic architecture appear ominous and intimidating; the towering arches and vacant towers looming over her with an unspoken threat.

She was starting to panic, and that was a rare thing these days. She had grown so much stronger over the past few years, in mind as well as body. She was easily able to remain calm even in the thick of a heated battle. But here she was, speeding through empty hallways and shadowed corridors, her mind showing her images of all the worst possible outcomes.

_"What is she grabs her stuff and leaves? Wait, no, I already checked our room, her stuff was still there. But what if she just leaves it all and takes an airship? What if she runs into Forever Fall? Or back down to Vale? What if she..." _Ruby halted that train of thought, unwilling to follow it down to its morbid destination.

She finished her circuit of the gardens and stopped to catch her breath. Frantically, she looked in all directions, searching for any sign of her wayward partner. Unexpectedly, her eyes alighted upon a rosebush not three feet from her. She smiled sadly, and walked over and plucked one. A fragile thing of crimson, yet still brilliant even in the darkness. She tucked it in behind her ear, for good luck.

_"I have to find her. Before she does something stupid."_

Gazing upwards, she found her view of the moon blocked by Beacon's giant signature tower.

_"Aha, that's it! Enough of this ground-level crap, I'm taking this to the rooftops."_

Ruby unlimbered Crescent Rose from her back; she had collected it from her room earlier just to be safe. It whirred and snapped as it unfolded, and she twirled around with it as it did so. She loved that noise, that feeling of becoming one with her scythe. To her, it almost felt like when her aura intertwined with Weiss', just not as visceral or warm. Or real, for that matter, although she would argue that Crescent Rose had a soul until her opponent's ears bled.

She held the scythe with the blade facing away from her and nodded to herself. Taking off suddenly with a burst of speed, she sped across the garden, trees and bushes whipping around in her wake. Reaching the wall of a nearby three-story building, she kicked up against it and braced her legs. And then she ran straight up. As she reached the top, she hooked the tip of her scythe on a ledge jutting from the roof, using it to swing herself back down so that she didn't keep flying up into the air.

Taking a second to gather her bearings, she took off along the edge of the roof, her eyes scanning the grounds for any sign of Weiss.

Nothing.

_"Gotta get higher."_

Grimacing, she took a running leap from the rooftop, using her semblance to gain height. Swinging Crescent Rose in mid-air, she lodged the blade in the side of one of Beacon tower's steeples. She hung off of the side of the spire, her feet firmly planted sideways on the rough shingles. From her new vantage point she surveyed the grounds again, her desperation heightening with every passing second. Just as she was about to climb even higher, she glimpsed a spot of white in the distance.

_"There she is!"_

Without a moment of hesitation, she twisted the blade out of the wood and let herself drop into a free-fall. After a few stories, she brought her feet up to the wall, and began running down it. Right when she reached the third story she kicked off, and used her semblance to turn herself into a whirling projectile of crimson.

She flashed across the night sky in a blur, covering half of the campus in only a few seconds. Holding Crescent Rose out to the side, she flipped the blade so that the flat end would drag through the air, ceasing her spinning and leveling her out. She was much closer now. She could see Weiss now. The girl was standing on the edge of their dorm's rooftop, gazing off into the distance. The moon had been covered by a cloud, but the remaining starlight still shimmered off of the heiress' snow-white hair. It was if she had cut a strip of astral matter from the night sky and hung it from her head, deciding that human hair wasn't fit to grace her radiant form.

_"Oh c'mon, I already looked on the roof!" _She swung her feet out in front of her and slowed even more, realizing she was about to land. _"Wait, why is she on the edge of... NO."_

Terror clutched her heart with an iron grip as she landed on the opposite end of the roof.

_"I have to get to her, __**now**__."_

She focused harder, forcing her body to fly across the rooftop, legs moving faster than what the human body was capable of. She crossed the roof in the blink of an eye.

Just as Weiss took another shaky step towards the edge, Ruby slammed into her at almost full speed, catching her in her arms and carrying her along. The heiress' shriek was drowned out by the rushing wind.

_"Gah, I overshot! Think fast Ruby!"_

With one arm holding Weiss and the other gripping her scythe she twisted in midair, hooking the tip of Crescent Rose onto the protruding lip of the roof as she shot past it. She used it to alter her momentum, swinging downwards, right into-

_"Ohcrapthewindow!"_

Clutching Weiss to her protectively, the other girl squeezing her just as hard, she smashed through the fourth-story window and flew into the room it led into. She squeezed her eyes shut, and felt a sickening pain as she slammed into something hard and unyielding. She must have lost consciousness for a second, because when she opened her eyes, all she saw was Weiss staring down at her with a look of concern and fear.

"Ruby! Are you alright? Say something you dolt!"

"H-hey Weiss..." She groaned and tried to stand, but her vision swam and she gave up.

"Don't try to stand you dunce, you nearly broke your spine on this metal shelf!" Weiss gestured to the offending object as she talked.

"A... shelf? Where are we?" Glancing around, she nsaw that they were in a small, dark room, with metal shelves and brooms lining the walls.

"What does it look like you idiot? We're in a storage closet. Honestly, what were you thinking? You could have gotten both of us killed!"

Weiss' words cut deep, awakening a spark of anger within Ruby, and she shouted back. "Well I'd rather die with you than watch you jump off of the roof!"

Weiss looked taken aback; her eyes grew wide and she opened her mouth in shock. "I-Is that what you thought I was doing?"

"Well what else were you gonna do, getting all close to the edge of the roof like that after running away from me?! And after kissing me too!? What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

The heiress shrunk back, fear and pain evident in her eyes. "I d-didn't mean to do that, please believe me! I just... lost control." Her voice fell and she gazed at the ground forlornly, her hands clasped in her waist as she sat back. Ruby stared at her in shock, the anger she previously felt having been snuffed out as soon as Weiss started speaking.

"Please just... forget about that. I don't want it to affect us as partners, but I-I understand if you don't... if you don't want to be friends anymore. I took advantage of you when you were only trying to be friendly, and I realize that-mmph!"

She nearly tackled the heiress, pinning her to the floor by her arms and capturing her lips in a kiss into which she poured the buried love of an entire year into. She was relieved beyond measure, now that she realized that Weiss had only been afraid of ruining their partnership. _"To be fair though,"_ Ruby thought, _"she had no way of knowing that I loved her..."_

Weiss struggled at first, weakly trying to push Ruby off of her, but after a few seconds she gave in and surrendered to it. The white-haired heiress moaned into the kiss, her hands roaming up and down Ruby's body, grasping whatever she could. Ruby felt her lungs gasping for air, and she broke the kiss for a second, gazing into Weiss' eyes, hopeful, but scared of what she might find. What she saw though, filled her with passion and more love than she had thought could fit into her already overflowing heart.

Her blood pumped faster and faster, and Weiss pulled her back down, kissing her over and over again. The first few were fumbling and awkward, but they quickly got the hang of it. Ruby smiled, unable to keep a massive grin off of her face. In Weiss' eyes, she had seen a mixture of things. But the prominent ones had been longing, passion, and sheer, unadulterated _want_.

That was why Ruby was smiling. As loving as Yang was, her love was a given. It had been a long time since the brunette had felt truly wanted. And to see clear as day that the object of her affections wanted her back? It was a feeling too amazing to clearly describe.

Time slipped away from Ruby, and she got lost in Weiss' passionate kisses and the roaming of her hands. The heiress touched her gently but hungrily at the same time. The feeling of the other girl's body pressed up against her own was almost transcendent, and when Ruby felt the sensation of their auras converging and intertwining to become one, she disappeared into a sensory overload of sheer pleasure and bliss.

Eventually, they slowed down, the kisses becoming less rushed and gentler, their roaming hands finding places on each others body to rest.

Ruby gasped for breath, resting her forehead against Weiss' chest. The heiress grasped her head and pulled it closer, and Ruby nuzzled her face into the other girls neck.

Weiss tried to sound stern and reprimanding, but it ended up just coming out as needy. "D-don't go to sleep you dolt, we can't do this here."

"Why not?"

"Because we're in a supply closet!"

Vaguely, Ruby realized that Weiss was scolding her in an attempt to avoid the inevitable conversation that had to follow. Where they talked about what this meant. Where they talked about the future.

Ruby smiled, pressing a kiss to Weiss' collarbone, the other girl shuddering as she did so. "I don't see a problem with that. This way, no one will find us 'till morning. It'll be just you and me here."

The older girl sighed in response, seemingly unwilling to argue any further. A silence permeated the air, one that was neither comfortable nor uncomfortable. A dozen questions hung in that silence, just waiting for someone to ask them. What does this mean? Where do we go from here? What about your parents? Why did you kiss me? Does this mean we're together? Is this just a one-time thing?

But Ruby chose to ignore them all, instead deciding that her time was better spent slowly running her right hand through Weiss' long, silky hair. The heiress winced, and Ruby pulled back.

"Oh, sorry, I'll stop."

"N-no! I mean... no," she managed to say. "You can keep going... if you want. It's just no one has ever done that with my hair before..."

Ruby giggled, resuming her previous actions. Weiss smiled gently and leaned into the caresses.

"Does it feel good?"

"...Yes. It feels amazing."

Weiss' honest admission warmed Ruby's heart and caused her chest to tighten a little. _"Oooh, she's so cute!" _That was all she had really wanted, for almost a year now. She wanted to make Weiss feel happy, wanted to love her and care for her and protect her. She wanted to make her partner feel beautiful in every sense of the word. And now, she realized as she closed her eyes in sheer bliss, she was finally able to. This was the happiest she had ever been, and she didn't the moment to ever end.

But after a while, Ruby realized that Weiss must be uncomfortable laying on the cold floor of the supply closet. Glancing around, she realized that one of the shelves was stocked with spare pillows and blankets. Gently, she attempted to get up, but Weiss grabbed her by her collar and pulled her back down, a look of panic in her eyes.

"Please..." she whispered, "don't go..."

"Ssshh, relax. I'm not leaving." Ruby pressed another kiss to her lips, long and slow. "I'll be right back, just give me one second. Weiss reluctantly loosened her grip, and Ruby stood up. The heiress shuffled backward and leaned up against the wall, careful to avoid the shattered glass on the floor. With Ruby gone, she clearly felt the chill of the air flowing through the open window, and she started to shiver. The brunette glanced back at her with concern, and hastened what she was doing.

Ruby walked over to the door and locked it, then grabbed a broom and a dust-pan and carefully swept up all the broken glass on the floor. Not finding any place to dump the glass, she simply set the dust-pan on the shelf. After that she gathered as many blankets as she could hold in her arms, using her teeth to drag some pillows down onto the floor for good measure. She dropped the pile of blankets, then picked up the top one and unfolded it, laying it down across the floor. She repeated the process with two more, and then surrounded the blankets with pillows. Weiss looked on in confusion as Ruby created a particularly large pile of pillows near the wall.

She looked at her work in satisfaction, then took the last blanket from the shelf and hung it over the window so that it blocked the wind. Smiling at Weiss, Ruby knelt beside the girl and began unbuckling the heiress' boots. Weiss gasped as she realized what Ruby was doing, and tears began to prick at the corners of her eyes.

"R-Ruby, you don't have to-"

"Sssh. I don't have to, but I want to. I know that taking someone's shoes off for them means a lot back in Atlas, like a gesture of devotion, right? So let me just take care of you tonight.

"...No one's ever done this before... been so nice for nothing in return..."

"Oh trust me," Ruby giggled, "you're rewarding me plenty. You have **no** idea."

After removing the heiress' boots and her own, she lifted the top blanket and gestured for Weiss to get under it.

The smaller girl hesitantly complied, and as soon as she was in, Ruby slipped in beside her. Weiss clasped her hands to her chest, as if she was afraid to make the first move.

_"Geez, she's so cute when she gets all nervous like this. I can't believe this is happening but... I can feel her heartbeat, so this must be real."_

"Oh, come here you." Ruby wrapped her left arm around Weiss' waist and pulled her close, and with her right hand she pulled the blankets up to their necks. The heiress was hesitant at first, but she eventually gave in and snuggled into Ruby. The brunette giggled, only squeezing Weiss tighter as the girl in white blushed profusely. Ruby rubbed their noses together, causing the heiress to grow even redder as a grimace appeared on her pale features.

"I-If you're going to hold me this close you dolt, you better not let me go!"

"Don't worry," Ruby said, pressing a kiss to Weiss' forehead, then her nose, then finally her lips. "I won't."

The heiress sighed in apparent acceptance of Ruby's words and relaxed into the embrace. The mound of pillows and blankets grew warm and soft as their collective body heat mingled in the small space they shared.

Ruby desperately wanted to just let go and relax with Weiss, but there was something she had to know first.

"Weiss?"

"...Yes?"

"...What does this mean? I mean, you don't have to answer that super deeply or anything, I just... I just want to know that I won't wake up alone tomorrow."

"Well I..." Weiss' voice fell off, as she struggled internally to come up with a response. Whatever it was, Ruby hoped that it included her. "This means... that we're more than just friends and partners now. We're something more now but... Ruby, there's still the issue of my parents. You know they'll never accept... this..."

"Weiss." Ruby's tone was hard and firm. "Look at me."

The heiress gazed up into Ruby's stormcloud eyes, finding them unyielding but full of compassion.

"You want this. And for once, don't lie to me and say you don't. I can see it in your eyes right now, the same longing that I've felt for the past year." Weiss seemed startled at this revelation, but Ruby continued. "For once, please, just listen to your heart. This is your life, not your parents, and it's the only one you've got. You've got to make your own choices, and find your own happiness. If you really need to leave me, I'll understand. I'll hate it, but I'll understand. But just for once, do what **you** want, not what **they** want."

The heiress looked down at Ruby's collar, lost in thought. Ruby simply sighed and held her closer, mentally bracing herself for whatever might come.

"You're wrong."

Ruby felt her stomach sink like an anchor dropped into an abyss.

"I don't want this..."

_"Not now... please, not when we're so close..."_

"I _need_ this."

Ruby jolted her head up, gazing into Weiss' eyes with a questioning ferocity. "What do you mean?"

"Just, hear me out. As much as it pains me to admit this, I need you. I need you to feel happy, to feel good about myself, to believe that... to believe that there might be a happy ending for me, somewhere out there. You've never been anything but kind and selfless towards me, and I've never repaid the favor. And it makes me feel horrible, but now, at least I can try to... to like you back. I mean really _like_, not just, you know, like..."

Ruby smiled and pressed her forehead to Weiss', the heiress' gentle breathing tickling her nose. "I understand." A powerful surge of emotions swept her up, and she caught Weiss' face between her hands, kissing her slowly, luxuriously, thoroughly. The heiress returned the kiss with steadily building heat for several moments, before breaking it off to murmur to Ruby, "So... I don't know how my parents will react, or what they'll do, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. But I was serious when I said I would start repaying your kindness. So from here on out, we're together. In more ways than one."

Ruby grinned. "So uh, can I call you my girlfriend now?"

Weiss grimaced at the implication. "I guess, just... not around other people. Yet. Give me some time to get used to this..."

Her chest tightened at the heiress' words. Ruby kissed her gently on the lips, savoring the sweet taste of her cherry lip balm. "I'll give you all the time in the world. So uh... one more question?"

Weiss sighed. "What."

"Does this... does this mean you're a lesbian now? I don't mean to pry or anything, but I didn't know you liked girls..."

She expected Weiss to respond with a sarcastic remark or a biting rebuke, but she seemed to take the question seriously. The heiress gazed into Ruby's eyes, mere inches from her own. "That's the strange part. I've never been attracted to men, or even girls for that matter. It's just... you. You're... you're the only person I've ever felt this way towards. So, since you're a girl... maybe that does make me gay. I don't really care at this point."

Ruby giggled softly, rubbing her nose against Weiss' before the other girl could shrink back from the contact. "Hee hee, fair enough. So you're Rubysexual then."

"You dolt!" Weiss whispered harshly. "You can't just make up terms for sexuality like that!"

"I just did. Now sshh, and let's go to sleep. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty tired."

Ruby glanced down, realizing that Weiss hadn't responded. She looked uncertain, almost scared.

"Hey," Ruby asked gently. "Are you okay with this? Sleeping together?"

"I-I suppose... I just, I've never really..."

Ruby looked at her with concern. "Never what?"

"Never... slept with anyone before."

"Wha... you mean you never slept with your mom when you had a nightmare or something?"

Weiss frowned. "No they... my parents always locked their door. I tried knocking some nights but... they never opened up."

Ruby reacted instantly, pulling Weiss closer and kissing her on the neck, gently caressing it with her lips in an attempt to make the heiress feel loved. "I'm _soooo_ sorry Weiss. But let me make it all up to you. From here on out, I'll give you all the love your parents never did."

The heiress seemed to blanch at the word love, but she didn't say anything, nor did she attempt to pull away from Ruby's tender ministrations.

"Well then just... don't let go tonight, okay? If we're going to wake up together, I don't want to find you off in the corner with all the blankets or something."

Ruby snorted, struggling to maintain her composure. "Heh heh, trust me, I don't think sleepy Ruby would ever let you go. Hey... there's something I've been meaning to ask you."

"What, besides, 'are you gay for me?'"

Ruby laughed out loud this time. "Haha, no silly! Well I mean, yeah but... uh..." Her voice grew quieter, and her voice took on a serious cast. "Do you feel like... like our auras are, I don't know, connecting?"

Weiss' eyes went wide, as if she thought that she was the only one that could feel it. "I, I did! I mean, it feels like our auras are, well, almost becoming one. Like they're forming a bond, or something similar."

Ruby smiled and nuzzled into Weiss' neck, the older girl grimacing in response. But she made no move to push Ruby away. "Good. Now even our souls are together. Holy crap that's romantic! And don't worry. I won't let you go tonight. Or the next night, if you'll let me. Or the night after that, or the night after that, or the night after-"

"Alright alright, I get it you dolt," Weiss said with a giggle. "Now shush up and let me go to sleep."

Ruby smiled contentedly, wrapping her arms around her partners waist, barely able to believe that they were now partners in more ways than one.

Their bodies pressed up against each other, and they both held the other as close as possible.

Their auras wrapped around each other, drawing from and giving the other strength. Crimson and white mixed and melded, both retaining their identities, but each growing more vivid from the merging.

Perhaps due to the combining of their aura, their heartbeats slowed, and eventually, matched each other beat for beat.

Ruby felt Weiss relax against her as sleep took her, the heiress' soft breath tickling the top of her hair as she nuzzled into her neck.

"I won't leave you," she whispered. "Not now, not ever."

* * *

**_I really hope you guys enjoyed that. _**

**_So, do you want the bad news, or the bad news? Alright, bad news it is._**

**_I'm leaving tomorrow for a week-long jungle warfare training course. Meaning I will be in the jungle until next Sunday. And I obviously can't bring my laptop and write while I'm drowning in mud and trying not to get bitten by freaking habu snakes. Those fuckers are _everywhere_. So yeah, expect at least a week between this chapter and the next, probably more. Sorry. But when you're reading this story and wishing the next chapter was out, just think of me, as I flop around in the rain and the mud and eat nothing but MRE's. _**

**_Alright, bad news piece #2.  
_**

**_I'm sure some of you, if not most of you, have seen Episode 3 of RWBY. Specifically the part where Weiss expresses her desire to go out with Neptune. Yeah, I am no longer watching that crappy excuse for a show. _**

**_So anways, unless you want to read my rant, please leave a review. Also, 96 followers in just a prologue and two chapters. I'm enthralled. That is crazy. _**

**_Enjoy the rest of your day!_**

**_WARNING: TL;DR /cuerant_**

It's just all come to a head lately with all this character inconsistency. You have Ruby, who hasn't changed a bit. Then, you have Weiss, with all this crazy character development, standing on chairs, yelling at Blake, that's all just coming out of nowhere with no real explanation. What happened to tsundere bitchy Weiss? Nobody knows. And then, on the opposite side of the spectrum, we have Blake. "Actually I think I'll sit this one out." Really? All the trust building and character development when she revealed she was a faunus, and then bam, we're back to Episode 5-ish Blake, who doesn't trust her team at all. And then there's Yang, who's had as much character development as a red-shirt from Star Trek.

And then the character development in Season 2 so far. Weiss has a sister? What? Why are we just now hearing about this? And on a related note, how come it's been AN ENTIRE YEAR, and yet we still have no clue why Ruby and Yang have different last names? You'd think they would have at least told Weiss or Blake by now, considering they've been a team for an entire year. Hell, I've worked with other marines for only a few hours and learned their entire life stories.

So yes, given their writing experience, (I mean holy crap there's so much more better writing on this site, and none of this is even for profit!), I believe Whiterose is dead. One might argue that Ruby might be the LGBT character they've hinted at, and confess to Weiss and all that, it's probably going to fall flat on it's face. If they have Neptune hit on Weiss, and then in the next episode reinforce that with Weiss wanting to go alone on a mission with him, it's pretty obvious that they're going to pair the two together. Even though they have literally 0 chemistry. Or anything in common. Or... whatever I need to move on.

So not only do we have these inconsistencies with the characters, they completely changed the focus of the show. When it started, the theme was clearly Man vs. Environment. The Grimm were the biggest threat, and Huntresses and Hunters had this important role of stopping them, and everything had a medieval feel to it, a huge fairytale influence. Then comes the later episodes of Season 1 and Season 2. The Grimm are basically no longer even part of the story. Now, it's all just Man vs. Man, and with cliche' villians to boot. All of a sudden here come battle droids, and giant mech-suits, and evil conspiracies. Meanwhile the Grimm just fade into the background, along with the whole fairy tail theme that was so central to the plot.

I mean I could continue. I really could. If you've even read this far, I applaud you. I'm feeling horrible about the show after episode 3, and it's like someone lifted the gauze from my eyes, and I'm finally seeing all the gaping flaws in the show that I ignored previously.

tl;dr: I'm not watching RWBY anymore. If however, any of you brave souls are intrepid enough to sail your ships into these now-uncertain waters, feel free to tell me about any Whiterose developments. Otherwise I'll just be clueless.

_**EDIT EDIT: Wow, getting a lot of really long reviews about my rant, and not too many about the story itself. So, I got a favor to ask. If you want to have a super long debate on the merits of my argument and it's inherent flaws in reasoning and such, which I'm totally down to do, please just PM it to me. No need to fill up the reviews page with all these personal opinions. If you would, please, just leave reviews about the actual story itself in the review section. Thank you.  
**_

**_EDIT: Whew, so many guest reviews about my rant that I conveniently can't respond to. Tight. So I wrote that when I had just gotten off duty, running on about 3 hours of sleep in 3 days. Not exactly at full mental capacity, emotions running rampant, etc. So while I stand by my points, I do realize that the insults towards Monty and his team are, if anything, unprofessional. Hey, I'm a Marine. We insult eachother when we argue. It's hard to get out of the habit. And no, I'm "not just all butthurt because Neptune got in the way of Whiterose." My points are legitimate. But, like I said, the insults are unnecessary, so I've edited them out._  
**


	5. Chapter 4 - Dämmerung

"_**The night has a thousand eyes,  
And the day but one;  
Yet the light of the bright world dies  
With the dying sun. **_

_**The mind has a thousand eyes,  
And the heart but one:  
Yet the light of a whole life dies  
When love is done.**_

_**-Francis William Bourdillon**_

* * *

"So... ready to go?"

"Not... particularly..." Weiss mumbled. She sighed and relaxed against Ruby, resting her head on the taller girl's chest. Her arms were wrapped around Ruby's waist, and she was wearing a mild grimace on her face, as if she was somehow resentful that she was so dependent on her partner.

It was already noon, and they were missing classes. Again. Weiss knew she should get up, should grab her books and rush right over to the lecture, should be studying and reviewing notes to catch up. But she just couldn't bring herself to move. No matter how hard she willed herself to, she just couldn't remove herself from the warm body pressed up against her own. It was if, deep down, a part of her was scared that if she left now, that warmth would be gone forever.

Ruby's chuckling brought her out of her thoughts.

"What's so funny about this you dolt?"

"Heh, nothing really. I just never though I'd see you miss classes two days in a row. For like, anything."

Weiss buried her face in Ruby's neck, and her words tickled the brunette's chest. "This is... different..."

It was slightly alarming to the heiress that physical contact was so quickly becoming addicting. It had been absent during her life until now. At most, she had received the occasional pat on the back from her father, or a very brief, very light hug from her mother. And it had all seemed forced, fake and unwanted. She had never known what it felt like to truly embrace someone, to feel their skin against your own, to cherish the warmth of their body and listen to the beat of their heart. It was intoxicating. And the sensation was magnified tenfold when she remembered that it wasn't just anybody that she was with. It was Ruby, her partner, that was holding her in her arms.

Ruby giggled softly. "It's funny how you're all nervous about this. I mean, not that that's bad or anything."

Weiss lifted her head slightly and rested her chin on Ruby's chest, gazing up into her silvery eyes. "I don't understand how you're _not_ nervous, you dolt. I mean unless you've..." Her voice trailed off.

"Unless I what?" Ruby asked gently.

Weiss frowned. She dreaded asking the question in her mind for fear of the answer she might receive, but a part of her just had to know. "Have you... have you been with someone... else, before?"

"W-what? No, of course not silly! I mean yeah I've cuddled with Yang before when we would watch movies or something, but that's different." Ruby smiled gently as Weiss' frown turned into an expression of relief and joy. "You're my first girlfriend."

"Me too..." Weiss muttered. She lay her head against the taller girl's collarbone, while Ruby started gently playing with her hair. "But about the whole girlfriend thing, can we keep that between us, at least for now? It's going to take me a while to get used to this idea, and I also don't want my parents finding out somehow."

Ruby kissed the top of the heiress' head. "Of course we can."

"That means no kissing or holding hands in public."

"Ugh, I forgot." Ruby whined in defeat. "Well, can I at least give you more hugs? And are we fine when we're alone in our room?"

Weiss smiled. "Well of course we're fine in our room. And yes, I suppose the occasional hug or two in between classes wouldn't be too bad."

Ruby hummed in satisfaction, and a comfortable silence fell between the two. The brunette gently removed the tiara from the heiress' hair; her fingers had been getting stuck on it earlier. Weiss sighed and relaxed her entire body, as she enjoyed the sensations of Ruby's fingers trailing gently through her ivory tresses. A few minutes passed like this, until the heiress broke the silence.

"Speaking of classes though..."

Ruby groaned.

"I know, I feel the same. But we have that test on survival techniques in Uriarte's class on Wednesday, remember? That's tomorrow."

"Alright," Ruby agreed. "Guess I have to let Yang know I'm alive too. My scroll died last night and she's probably running around looking for me."

The brunette shifted to the side, making room for the heiress to stand up. She straightened her hair and her clothes as she did so, looking down and grimacing at the wrinkles in her outfit.

"We should go back to our room first. Neither of us have showered for two days. And no girlfriend of mine is going to go without a shower when she's around me."

Ruby stood up, surprising Weiss when she pulled her into a close embrace. "Ooh, getting possessive already?"

The heiress rested her head on her partner's shoulder. "Having standards does not equate to being possessive, you dunce."

"I know," Ruby chuckled. "I'm just teasing."

"Well good. Now you get to put away all those blankets and pillows."

Ruby groaned and let her body sag down, dragging Weiss with her.

"R-Ruby!"

* * *

The sound of hurried scribbling filled the room. Students in their school uniforms nervously glanced from handwritten notes to tests, looking back and forth multiple times in the desperate hope that the answers might be in there, _somewhere_.

The sound of one pencil seemed slightly louder than most. The lead of this particular writing utensil was being pressed into the paper with force, and with far more speed than anyone else's. Anyone watching Weiss take that test would have easily been able to deduce that she was angry, but they would have been wrong.

Weiss wasn't angry. She was _furious_.

For once in her life, she had been wrong. The test wasn't on Wednesday. It was on Tuesday. And Weiss hadn't studied, another first in what was quickly becoming a whole week of them. First kiss, first cuddle, first girlfriend, _first surprise test, first time being unprepared for said test._

She grit her teeth and racked her brain, desperately trying to figure out whether or not the juice of uru berries, found in temperate forests around Vale, could properly disinfect an open wound or not.

The problem was, she didn't actually know the answer. She was being forced to guess. Her. Weiss Schnee. _Guessing_. It was unheard of. Never before had she sunken to such an all-time low.

_"When I get done with this... I'm going to kill Ruby..." _

Just as she finished that thought, a crumpled up piece of paper landed on her test, startling her out of her work. She furiously turned around, her ponytail swishing as she looked at each of the students behind her in turn, daring one of them to reveal themselves as the culprit. It would be the last thing they ever did.

No one raised their heads however; each student remained steadfastly focused on their own tests. She turned back to the note, realizing that reading it would probably enable her to find out who had thrown it.

She unfolded it carefully, trying to make the noise of the crinkling paper unnoticeable. Professor Uriarte was notoriously draconian about note passing in his class.

Her face did a strange thing when she read the note. Her eyes widened in surprise, her features contorted in anger, but at the same time, her cheeks reddened in embarrassment.

**~ Hey Weiss! Not done with the test yet? I finished already, but that's just because I learned a lot of survival stuff from my Uncle. But I know you can do it, you're way smarter than me!**

**P.S. - You look really really pretty today! Love Ruby Rose :D ~  
**

Weiss slammed her face down onto the wooden desk of the lecture hall, drawing concerned glances from the students around her.

_"Love?! Love?! She has no idea what she's talking about... and the nerve! Throwing notes in class, telling me I'm pretty!"_

She was conflicted. Part of her was angry at Ruby for throwing notes at class, yet another part was amazed at how supportive her partner could be, even in the middle of a test with no easy means of communication. Another part of her felt great, that warm feeling she got whenever Ruby complimented her looks. She had always taken such things as off-hand comments, but now she knew that the brunette truly meant them, in a romantic sense.

And yet still another part of her was disappointed. That part of her knew that Ruby didn't really know what love was, and that she was just exaggerating her feelings for the heiress.

_"Anyway, she doesn't want to fall in love with me. That just won't end well, and anyway, I don't deserve for someone like that be in love with... well, someone like me..."_

And yet, deep down, she desperately hoped that somehow, impossibly, Ruby _might_ actually be in love with her. As terrifying as that thought was, she realized that it would be a reason to finally resist, something she could hold on to.

Maybe then she could commit. Maybe then she would have a reason to fight, a reason to take control of her own life and finally break free of the constricting hold her parents had on her. Maybe.

Glancing up, she searched for Ruby, finding the other girl beaming at her with an encouraging smile. She gently smiled back. As she watched, Ruby tossed another ball of paper in the air, flicking her wrist and sending it across the room with a gust of wind. It was close enough to the roof that the Professor didn't notice it. With a small plop, it landed squarely on her section of the lecture desk.

She hadn't considered Ruby as a potential culprit for the phantom note-passer, because she was on the other side of the room in her assigned seat, and even she wasn't stupid enough to try and toss a note across the room in front of Professor Uriarte. But then, she also had forgotten that Ruby had recently learned to control wind with her semblance. It hadn't been long since the discovery, but the girl could already control gusts of wind strong enough to blow trees nearly sideways if she concentrated hard enough.

She picked up the note with a wry smile and unfolded it.

**~ You still owe me a hug after class :p Now get working! **

**P.S. I'll be waiting in the hallway after ~**

Weiss dropped the note and glared across the room at Ruby.

"I don't need you to tell me what to do!" she mouthed silently.

Ruby cocked her head to the side in puzzlement. "What?" she mouthed back.

Weiss shook her head in exasperation, forcing her eyes downward and back to her test. She attacked the next few problems vigorously, realizing wistfully that Ruby had actually given her the motivation she needed.

She finished a few minutes later. Her ponytail swished from side to side as she strutted down the steps to the Professors desk. After handing in her test, she returned to her seat and sought out Ruby again, only to find the brunette already smiling at her.

"Thank you," Weiss mouthed.

Ruby's smile simply grew wider.

Unbeknownst to both of them, higher up in the lecture hall, Yang's piercing gaze had observed the entire thing. She had finished her test earlier, and was simply waiting to hand it in. Her eyes narrowed as she watched the two partners, who were grinning at each-other like lovestruck idiots.

_"Just what are you two up to..."_

* * *

At the end of class, Weiss packed away her papers and watched Ruby head out into the hallway. Due to her seat being near the front of the class, she was one of the last ones to leave.

She was about to exit the door, but a hand on her shoulder prevented her from doing so.

"Yang?"

The blonde smiled at her, but something about it was off. The glint in her eyes and the tilt of her grin made it seem somewhat... predatory.

"Sup Weiss. Just wanted to ask you something."

Weiss knew trouble when she saw it. She made a move to slip past the girl, but the hand stayed firmly planted on her shoulder and prevented her from leaving. "I have to get to my next class Yang, what do you need?"

"Nothing much. I just wanted to ask if there was anything going on between you and Ruby."

_"Ah yes, ever the overprotective sister." _Weiss knew she would have to tell Yang before long, but for now, she was still getting used to the idea herself.

"No, nothing." A blatant lie. Yang's eyes narrowed, and she stared at Weiss for a few seconds, just long enough to make the heiress start to feel uncomfortable.

But then the moment was gone, as Yang switched back to her usual grin. "Alrighty then! Good luck in your next class. I'll seeya later."

Weiss quickly turned to go, but Yang called back before she could. "Oh, one more thing! If anything happens to Ruby, and I mean _anything_, the person responsible is gonna be in a world of hurt. Just food for thought. Seeya!"

Yang promptly turned around and walked off, striding down the hallway without a backwards glance.

Weiss watched her go, and she would be lying to herself if she said she didn't feel threatened. Yang was like a mother bear, she realized, and would do anything to protect one of her cubs if she felt it was hurt in any way. A disturbing analogy if there ever was one.

She shuddered and walked the opposite way, her tiara bouncing along with her hurried steps. She was determined to find Ruby before her next class.

* * *

The sky was clear and the sun shone brightly overhead, creating a harsh glare in the windows of Beacon's various buildings. Weiss was walking across the campus, down a cobblestone pathway that was lined on either side by shoulder-high bushes. In Weiss' case, they were head-high.

"Psst, Princess!"

She froze and glanced around, trying to find the source of the whisper. Before she could, a hand shot out of the brush and closed around her arm. It dragged her through a concealed hole in the bushes, into a small clearing just big enough for two people to stand a comfortable distance apart.

A hand closed itself over her mouth before she could shriek, and she whipped around with fury in her eyes to discover to identity of her abductor.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to be rough but I wanted to get you in here before anyone saw!"

It was only Ruby. The fire in her eyes died away, as the brunette removed her hands from the heiress' arm and mouth.

Weiss half-heartedly shoved her shoulder, sending her reeling to the side. "Don't ever do that again you stupid dolt! You scared me half to death!"

Ruby hung her head, appearing for all the world like a kicked puppy. "O-oh... I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to startle you." Her eyes lit up as she seemed to remember something, and she brought a white tulip out from behind her back. "I-I got this for you! I found it while I was walking here and it just looked really pretty, sorta like you, and I thought you'd like it."

Weiss deflated a little at the sight of the flower, realizing that she might have been a tad harsh on Ruby, who after all, was only following her wishes by trying to keep their relationship a secret.

"...It's okay. I'm sorry for pushing you, I didn't mean it."

Ruby grinned brightly. "I know you didn't."

Weiss gratefully accepted the flower. She tucked it in above her right ear, and Ruby's face lit up when she saw it. "Woowww, you're so beautiful..."

The older girl blushed furiously and looked down at the ground. She still wasn't used to receiving compliments so openly and honestly.

"T-thank you... but we really should get to our classes," Weiss mumbled.

"Oh right, heh, I almost forgot. Um... can I... can we..." Ruby kicked her foot back and forth nervously, and Weiss lifted her head to meet her eyes. An unspoken question lingered in them.

"If you want to kiss me, dolt," she whispered, "you can."

Ruby's eyes lit up, and she nervously reached her arms out to encircle Weiss' waist and pull her closer. Weiss moved to do the same, realizing that she was just as apprehensive about it. She knew that they had kissed before, but this time, out in the light, without being in the heat of the moment, it was different. They were both fully conscious of what they were about to do.

Ruby moved her head forward, Weiss hesitantly matching her movements. The heiress closed her eyes and leaned forward, pursing her lips, while her heart pounded so furiously it almost hurt.

Their teeth clacked together, and both girls recoiled in pain. Ruby started apologizing profusely. "Sorry! Sorry sorry, I just, I'm sorry!"

Weiss smiled gently, amused at Ruby's nervousness, despite how honest and genuine she knew her partner's affection to be. "Just shut up and try again."

"O-okay."

This time, Ruby didn't hesitate, and met Weiss' lips in a forceful kiss, leaning into it and humming giddily. Burning heat poured through the heiress' veins as she reveled in the sensation, in the warmth of Ruby's embrace and the knowledge that someone truly cared about her enough to be intimate with her. It was something that she had fully expected to go her whole life without.

Dimly, she noted that Ruby tasted of pineapple lip balm, which tingled slightly. She didn't care.

Two students passed by, talking normally as they walked to their next class. It drew Weiss back into reality, and she remembered that she had scant minutes left before she had to be at her next class.

She drew back slowly, regretting every moment of it. "Mmm, w-we have to, we have to go our classes Ruby."

Ruby bit her lower lip and nodded in agreement. "Yeah. That was... really nice. We should do that again. Sometime."

Weiss smiled happily. Again. She would get to do this again. The thought filled her with uncharacteristic joy. "Of course."

"I'll go first," Ruby said. She darted forward and pecked Weiss on the cheek, then just as quickly disappeared through the small hole in the bush.

Weiss stood there for a few seconds longer, staring at the empty space Ruby left. Slowly, she lifted her hand to her cheek. She could still feel the ghost of her partner's lips upon it. Her heart was still beating erratically.

_"This is bad..."_ she thought to herself. _"Is this what falling in love feels like?"_

* * *

Ruby grimaced as she looked down at her tray. "I think these are the same mashed potatoes from yesterday."

Yang took a bite, mirroring her sister's expression of distaste. "Blech – it sure tastes like it."

Weiss laid her fork down and pushed her tray away from herself. "You'd think that the most prestigious Hunting academy in Vale could do better."

"Or the cafeteria staff might just be getting lazy again," Blake said.

"Ooh, I hope so," Yang said. "I'd love to see Goodwitch get all pissed at them again."

Blake glanced at her sideways. "I think you're actually the only one who likes seeing Ms. Goodwitch yell at people. Are you just glad because she's not yelling at you?"

"Hey that's not fair-"

"Evening ladies."

Neptune slid into the seat between Weiss and Ruby, the latter glaring at him.

"Some things never change, huh?" Yang remarked with a grin. "Grimm kill people, dust blows stuff up, and Neptune keeps trying to flirt with every girl in a five mile radius."

"You say that like it doesn't work most of the time," he replied with a grin of his own. "So, Weiss, how about dinner, Friday, that steak house out in Vale? It'll be my treat."

"You're bold, I'll give you that," Weiss said, not even bothering to look up from her food. "And persistent. This is what, the tenth time you've asked me?"

Neptune laid his elbow on the table and leaned on it, so that he was facing Weiss and blocking out everyone else. "Well hey, you're worth all the effort. If you'd just go with me, I'm sure you'd see that I'm not half bad myself."

"No," was the simple reply.

"Oh c'mon, you've been avoiding me for almost two years now. Just give me a shot, it'll be-"

A hand grabbed him roughly by the shoulder and spun him around, and he was face-to-face with a very irate Ruby. "She. Said. No. Now leave," the brunette growled.

He gulped and recoiled slowly. Not many people got the privilege, if it could be called that, of being subjected to Ruby Rose's anger. She didn't get mad often, or for no reason. If Ruby was heated, something was seriously wrong.

"Uh... yeah. Okay," Neptune said. "I'll be leaving then." Still, you couldn't keep the man down, and he managed to wink at Yang before he got up. "Enjoy the rest of your evening ladies. You know where to find me."

He walked away, making an obvious effort to put as much swagger into each step as possible. Ruby glared at him the whole way. Once she was satisfied he wasn't coming back, she turned back around, only to find Yang and Blake staring at her.

"What?"

Yang simply raised her eyebrow in response, and Blake folded her arms across her chest. Ruby glanced over at Weiss, who was apparently busy trying to separate her mashed potatoes into their base components through careful trial and error.

"That was... unexpected," Blake stated bluntly.

"Yeah," Yang continued, "I've never seen you blow up on someone like that out of nowhere. What, is it cuz' he hit on Weiss?"

The older girl blushed, but continued staring at her tray. Ruby simply looked at Yang dispassionately, determined to keep up the facade as long as Weiss wanted to. "No. I guess he just finally got to me. People need their space, y'know, and he just has absolutely no respect for any of that. He does it to everyone, and it really bugs me."

Yang shrugged, shoveling a forkful of chicken into her mouth. "If you say so," she mumbled. She wasn't fooled for a second. And deep inside, she felt her anger build. _No one_ played Yang Xiao Long for a fool. And especially not when it concerned her baby sister.

* * *

Weiss slashed her pen across an answer, scoring an angry red mark through it. "Wrong."

Another swipe, another mark. "Wrong."

Yet another one. "Wrong again. Honestly Ruby? Did you forget everything I taught you about burn dust?"

"No! But come on, this is the super advanced stuff you're trying to teach me! No one else knows this crap."

Weiss smacked her palm down on the desk, the sharp slap painfully loud in the relative quiet of their room. Ruby was sitting cross-legged on her bed, as Weiss graded the answers to the test she had given her partner.

"It is _not_ crap, Ruby Rose! Dust is the entire reason my family exists, the only reason that humanity isn't extinct! Say that one more time, and so help me..."

Ruby crossed her arms across her chest and met Weiss' glare with a look of disinterest. "You'll what?"

"I... I'll..." Weiss floundered, jabbing her pen in the air.

Ruby grinned triumphantly. "You'll... Fight me? We both know who would win that little duel."

"Why you little-"

"Or is it just a crazy coincidence that we haven't sparred in the last three months? Scared to lose?"

Weiss snarled and leapt at Ruby, only to be twisted around and pinned to the bed by her wrists.

"Gotcha," the brunette whispered.

The heiress' cheeks reddened as she realized how vulnerable she was at the moment. Helpless, at the mercy of her girlfriend.

"G-get off me you dolt..."

Ruby's hair hung down in a curtain of brown and red, preventing Weiss from seeing anything but her partner's face. "Oh I don't think so. Not until you admit that you lost. In only one move too."

Weiss struggled to kick her legs free, but Ruby effectively trapped them with her own, straddling her partner and looming over her.

"I didn't lose! This would be different if we had our weapons!"

Ruby grinned wickedly. "I'll take you up on that later. But for now, you'll either admit defeat, or else."

"O-or else what?" Weiss managed to say. Ruby could feel the heiress' erratic pulse from her wrists, and it looked she was having trouble breathing.

The brunette lowered her mouth to her partner's ear. "Or else I'm just gonna keep kissing you until you give up." With that, she lowered her mouth to Weiss' neck and began kissing her way down it, running her tongue over the older girl's collarbone and suckling on her skin.

"S-stop it! I mean it!" The brunette hesitated. "Ruby, n-no!"

At the word "**no**," Ruby recoiled, stumbling backwards and catching herself on the other bed. Weiss pulled herself up, her breathing ragged.

They both were silent for a few moments, until Ruby spoke. "...I'm sorry... I'm so sorry Weiss, I'm not any better than him am I? I didn't mean to-"

"Shut up."

Ruby cringed noticeably. "But-"

"Just hush. Please." Weiss stood up and walked over to her distraught partner, who was sitting on her bed. She sat down beside her, noticing how Ruby reflexively shied away from her. The heiress reached out her hand and placed it on top of Ruby's.

"Just ssshh, okay?" Weiss asked quietly.

Ruby nodded, and after a few moments, leaned to the side and rested her head on the heiress' shoulder. Weiss didn't make any move to pull away, and there was a visible flash of relief on Ruby's face.

"I've been your partner for almost three years," Weiss started quietly. "I can tell when something's bothering you. I'm not saying I didn't... enjoy that, but I'm not really ready for something like that. Just yet, at least. Give me some time."

"No it's fine," Ruby replied. "I'm sorry for trying to rush you into this... whole relationship thing, I guess. It won't happen again."

"I'm not saying don't try to do new things with me, just..." Weiss trailed off. She wrapped her other arm around Ruby's shoulder, pulling them both down onto the bed in a close embrace. The brunette sighed as she rested her head in the crook of the older girl's neck.

"Ruby, honestly, is something wrong? I mean, one second you're nervously asking if you can kiss me, then the next you're all over me. That isn't really like you. And you blew up on Neptune too, and I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen you that angry."

Ruby closed her eyes, wrapping her arms around Weiss' waist and pulling her closer. "Nothing's really wrong... I just, I mean when he hit on you like that... it was different than before. If I had had Crescent Rose on me, he probably would have left with a broken nose."

Understanding dawned on Weiss. "Ruby..." she said slyly. "Are you_ jealous_?"

She could feel Ruby tense up beneath her. "What, no! I don't get jealous..."

"You've never been able to lie to me, what makes you think it's going to start working now?"

"...Alright," Ruby sighed," yeah. A bit."

A sharp flick to the forehead. "Ow, okay! A lot, geez!"

Weiss chuckled. "I knew it."

"Yeah... It's just, I mean I've liked you for a really long time now, but I could never really say anything when he hit on you. It's not my place to decide who you want to be with."

"You," Weiss whispered softly.

Ruby blushed and kissed the heiress' neck, and this time met no resistance at all. "Thanks. You have _no_ idea what it means to me to hear you say that. Like, you know, actually say it out loud."

Ruby was silent for a few moments, but then took a deep breath, as if hesitant to continue speaking. "I guess, since I've liked you for so long without being able to actually do anything about it, now that I finally can... I guess I just got a little out of control."

A thought occurred to the heiress. She looked thoughtful, her brow furrowed in contemplation. "Ruby, exactly how long have you liked me... you know, like this?"

Ruby buried her face in Weiss' neck, and her words tickled the heiress as her lips moved. "About a year."

The white-haired girl smiled gently and sat up, pulling Ruby's head into her lap. She began running her fingers through Ruby's hair, noting how soft it was, despite it's sometimes shaggy appearance. "You dolt... that long? Why didn't you say anything?"

"Well I didn't know if you liked girls, for one," Ruby said softly. "And even if you did, I thought that there was no way you would ever like me... romantically, I guess. I knew we were friends, best friends, and I didn't want to ruin that. I've always thought you were beautiful, and smart, and really super cool, and nice too, even though you had your own way of showing it."

Ruby turned her head so that she could look up at Weiss, who was staring out of the window into the night sky. She was entranced by the heiress' beauty, the way her lips formed into a tight line as she thought, the way her eyebrows flattened when she smiled gently. The way her eyes, deeper and more fathomless than any ocean, reflected the warm light of the lamp on the desk. The way her snow-white bangs framed her face, which was, in Ruby's opinion, the embodiment of perfection.

The moment, the feeling, the sensation of simply being together, finally. It was all just, _perfect_. Simply perfect.

Ruby hummed in satisfaction and found Weiss' free hand with her own. She intertwined their fingers, her heart beating faster as Weiss' pale, soft fingers reflexively tightened around her own.

Weiss' smile grew.

* * *

"Yang, come to bed."

"I can't sleep," Yang countered. She was pacing in circles around her room, her arms clasped behind her back.

"She'll be fine. Weiss could never hurt her."

"You don't know that, no one really knows that. Ruby has no idea what she's getting herself into." Yang snarled. "She might mean well, but she can't even control her own life. How am I supposed to trust her with Ruby's too?"

"Yang, Ruby knows better than anyone what she's getting herself into, _if _she really is secretly dating Weiss in some grand conspiracy against you."

"I just want what's best for my sister!" Yang began talking with her hands, weaving them through the air as she spoke. "Is that so wrong? Even if Weiss _doesn't_ get bored of her and break her heart, that's what's gonna happen one way or another. That bitch has to take over Schnee Dust, and there's no way I want Ruby anywhere near that company. You know better than anyone what they've done!"

Blake sat up from her position on her bed, her amber eyes tracking her partner and girlfriend as she paced the room. "Yang. Listen to yourself. 'That bitch?' I know you want the best for Ruby, I really do, but you're not doing this just for Ruby's sake. Be honest. You still don't like Weiss, and that's okay. But don't let it come between your sister and what she truly wants. If she honestly wants to be with Weiss, and Weiss wants to be with her, things will work out."

"But what if they don't!" Yang almost shouted. "What if they don't, and she just dumps Ruby like a piece of trash?! Because that's what she does to people, I've seen it before. I _don't trust her_. Plain and simple. And if I don't trust **her**, why in the hell would I trust her with my sister?"

Blake sighed. "I honestly think you're overreacting. She's your sister, yes, but she's eighteen now, and one of the best students in the school. She needs to start living her own life, as much as you want to be a part of it."

She reached out and caught Yang's hand as the blonde passed, halting her pacing and forcing her to meet her gaze.

"Just because Ruby has a life of her own doesn't mean that you can't be in it. She's already grown up Yang. You just haven't realized it yet."

Yang was silent for a few moments. But then she squeezed Blake's hand, and lowered her head in defeat. "You're right. I know, you're always right."

Blake smirked.

"I just... really don't trust her." Yang sat down beside Blake, resting her head on the faunus' shoulder. "But if this is what Ruby really wants, I'll just have to let them figure this out on her own. I just wish they'd tell me."

"They will," Blake said. "Just give them time. It's probably a scary thing for both of them."

"Yeah... I swear though, if she does anything to hurt Ruby, I'm gonna-"

"Yes, I know," Blake laughed. She wrapped her arm around Yang's shoulder and pulled her closer. "You'll break every bone in her body. You've said it before."

"Damn right," Yang muttered. "She'll be _Schnee dust_ when I'm done with her."

"Get out. Now."

* * *

"Weiss..."

The heiress froze in mid-step.

Ruby turned over in her sleep, unconsciously pulling the red sheets tighter around her lithe frame. Shrouded in darkness, it was difficult to tell if she was asleep or not.

Weiss waited for a few moments more in the dead silence of the room. She was in the middle of it, halfway between her bed and Ruby's. After almost a full minute, she started moving again, taking short, hesitant steps towards her partner.

"Weiss..."

This time the heiress jumped a little. A look of indignation reached her face. Just what could Ruby be dreaming about, moaning her name like that? She started forward, intent on waking her partner up.

"Weiss... please don't go..."

She froze, her mind not quite sure of what it had just heard.

"Please... where did you go?"

Ruby's voice sounded so tender, so needy that the white-haired girl felt her chest tighten in sympathetic pain.

"Please come back..."

Casting her prior nervousness aside, she took the last few steps to Ruby's bedside. She couldn't stand to listen to her partner so distraught, knowing that there was something she could do about it.

The younger girl whimpered and turned over again, facing the center of the room. She felt something tug at her heartstrings as she saw Rubys' face. It was scrunched up tight, as if in pain or distress, her lips curled down into a frown. She quickly decided it wasn't a good look for the normally effervescent girl.

She grasped Ruby by the shoulder and shook her gently. No reaction.

"Weiss..."

The older girl sputtered and shook her partner harder, and this time Ruby's eyes snapped open, orbs of silver searching the darkness.

"Weiss?"

The heiress put a finger over Ruby's lips. "Hey, sshhh, I'm right here. It's okay."

Ruby stared back at her, her eyes shimmering with a mixture of relief and happiness. She nodded her head in reply.

"Are you alright now?" Weiss asked. She lowered her finger, finding one of Ruby's hands and grasping it with her own.

"Heh, yeah, I'm fine now," Ruby whispered in reply. She smiled brightly, visible even in the darkness. "Thanks."

"It's nothing." The heiress backed away slightly, but kept her hand in Ruby's. The nervousness returned, and even though the question was on the tip of her tongue, she couldn't quite bring herself to say it. At the same time, she didn't want to return to her bed by herself either.

Ruby gazed into her downcast eyes, and perhaps she saw the unspoken question in them.

"Would you..." Ruby began hesitantly. Weiss looked up. "...Would you like to sleep here, tonight? W-with me?"

She nodded quickly. A broad grin stretched across Ruby's face, and the heiress couldn't help but imitate her with a smile of her own.

Ruby lifted the crimson sheets to make room, and her partner crawled in beside her. Her nightgown rustled as it slid along the soft sheets.

They embraced each-other hesitantly at first, both unsure of exactly what to do. Before long though, Weiss decided it would be best if she turned over, so that Ruby could hold her from behind while their bodies fit together. She struggled to remember what that was called. Spooning?

Regardless of what it was, it felt _right_ to her.

Ruby put her lips to her the bare part of her back that was exposed by the low back of the nightgown, and left the softest of kisses there. She shuddered, unable to control her racing emotions and the feelings that came with them. She never thought she would experience this, this sensation of being loved, cared for, protected. She loved it. Maybe she loved Ruby, she realized with a start. Ruby made her feel beautiful, and safe, and _wanted_. No one had ever come close to doing that. She wasn't sure, and didn't want to jump to conclusions, but she sure hadn't felt this particular feeling before. This tightness of the chest, this feeling of incredible warmth and longing. The way her lungs struggled for air, the way that every touch felt electric. The way Ruby's voice set her spine tingling, the way that she _needed_ to be held by her.

"Were you already coming to my bed?" Ruby whispered.

"N-no..."

"You've never been able to lie to me," Ruby repeated in her best Weiss impression.

The older girl stifled a giggle. "Fine... dolt. _Yes_, I was already going to ask if I could sleep with you."

"Why?"

Weiss' brow furrowed in confusion. "What?"

"I mean, you normally don't come to me first unless there's something on your mind."

The heiress resolved to fix that habit, to start being the one that initiated things. She was trying to be more open, she really was. She was worried that Ruby would leave her if she didn't. Call it irrational, but the anxiety that came with it was real.

Ruby kissed the back of her neck, Weiss' eyelids fluttering closed as she did so.

"Remember when I told you you can tell me anything? Hasn't changed. I'm still here. In fact, I'm closer than ever."

Weiss' heart swelled with a pride, amazed that her girlfriend and partner had turned out to be so amazing and caring. Not for the first time, she was incredibly grateful that she had come back for Ruby in the Emerald Forest during their first semester at Beacon.

"... I'm worried about my father."

"Oh."

"You don't know what he would do if he found out what we were doing. I'm not asking you to keep this a secret because I'm embarrassed of you or something. I just can't risk it. For your sake as well as mine. At the very least, he'd make sure that we... that we never saw each-other again."

The thought made her chest constrict in fear, and her voice wavered. But then Ruby was there, rubbing soft circles onto her side and tenderly kissing the back of her neck. It gave her the courage to continue, to fully give voice her fears.

"I don't know what's going to happen to us Ruby, and it scares me. Most people have a lot of different possible futures, paths they might walk and choices they might make." She shuddered. "I don't. There's only one future for me, the one where I go back to Atlas and get forced into an arranged marriage for _the betterment of the company_." She said those last few words with disgust.

Ruby was silent, but offered her support through other, physical means.

"I don't want that. I want options. I want possibilities. I want to _choose_."

She lowered her head to the sheets, her snow-white hair a sharp contrast to the deep crimson. Her next words were low and laden with yearning.

"I want a future with you in it..."

A silence fell, one that was neither comfortable nor the opposite. Ruby never stopped comforting her, and Weiss felt herself drift off into the bliss of her girlfriend's caring touch.

"You've got to do this for yourself Weiss." Ruby's voice was determined.

"...What do you mean?"

"If you really want a future with me, and don't get me wrong, I want that too, more than you know. But if that's really what you want, you're going to have to make that future for yourself. Nobody can truly force you into anything. Your parents might be some of the most powerful people in Remnant, but no one is unstoppable. You're an incredibly powerful huntress now, and the most beautiful, smartest, most clever woman I know. And you have an entire team of huntresses by your side, ones that would do anything for you."

Weiss was silent, soaking up every word that Ruby uttered. Sometimes she forgot how mature Ruby had become.

"But still, you're the only one who can do this. I can't go to your parents, as much as I want to, and yell at them and make them leave you alone forever. But you can. _You can_. Trust me."

Her partner's words struck a chord in Weiss' heart, and she realized, at that moment that she truly did want Ruby in her future, no matter what else happened. A future without Ruby was one she didn't want to be a part of.

"I just... I'm still scared of facing them. I don't know what they'll do."

Ruby kissed her again, this time tilting her head up so that their lips could meet softly, sweetly.

"Hey." Ruby stared into her girlfriend's eyes, struggling to commit everything that she saw in them to memory. "You don't have to worry about that now. Tonight, it's just you and me. The way it should be. Forget about them, forget about all of that. I'm here. With you."

Weiss couldn't keep a warm smile off of her face, the one that she reserved solely for Ruby. She whispered, their faces separated by inches. "Thanks, dolt."

Ruby smiled and tightened her grip around the heiress' waist, holding onto her like she was the most precious thing in the world. Which, to Ruby, she truly was.

"You know... you don't have to ask," Ruby muttered. The clouds parted, allowing shafts of moonlight to stream through the window and pool on the floor.

"Hmm?"

"If you... if you want to sleep together, you don't have to ask. You can just come over here. Or uh, if you don't, I'll probably just come to you."

Weiss smiled. "...I think I'd like that."

* * *

_**Dämmerung - dawn in German.**_

_**I hope you all enjoyed that.**_

_**As for the whole "Ruby controlling wind with her semblance" thing, it's already canon, technically. In the food fight episode, you'll recall where she spins into a blur and smashes everyone against the wall with her sheer speed. Funny thing is, an object of her size doesn't have the mass it needs to create a shockwave effect like that. The only way the wind would have swirled around her like that, picking up tables and cracking the wall, would be if she somehow had the ability to control wind, either subconsciously or not. Bam, canon.**_

_**Sorry this chapter is a little late. Had a busy week at work, and it was honestly a little hard figuring out where to go with this story after the last chapter. I've got a good idea now though, no worries. Some more bad news though. My work will, once again, prevent me from posting for a while. At the most, give it about fifteen days for a new chapter. On the bright side though, I will be able to write during this time, so as soon as I get back there should be a new chapter. Who knows, there might even be two. **_

_**Please review, let me know what you thought, and enjoy your day.**_


	6. Chapter 5 - Corona

_**If I could give you one thing in life, I would give you the ability to see yourself through my eyes. **_

_**Only then would you finally realize how special you are to me.**_

* * *

"First contestant... Ruby Rose!"

Hushed whispers echoed around the coliseum. Students in the rising tiers of seats shot eachother pointed glances and winced in anticipation. Nobody wanted to have to fight Ruby anymore. These days, no one really stood a chance. Not even Pyrrha could beat her, as the brunette had proven during last week's upset match.

There were many ways the weekly sparring match-ups were determined, be it randomly, through a ranking system, a tournament system, or simply by students asking eachother for duels. Sometimes the fights were between entire teams, and sometimes they were simply between two students.

This week, the matchups were blind pick duels. A slot-machine type system randomly selected two students, and they fought until one of the fighter's aura was depleted. That way, no lasting injuries were sustained that might hinder their future careers.

Aura worked like a shield, someone with sufficient control over their own could create a metaphysical barrier that absorbed and deflected incoming energy, be it physical or otherwise. For instance, if you still had a bit of aura left, hundreds of glass shards would not be able to cut you; your barrier would absorb all the kinetic energy and reflect the shards. And if the glass was able to cut you, then that meant that your aura was depleted, and the match over.

Standing and cracking her neck, Ruby grabbed Crescent Rose and made her way towards the stairs that led into the arena.

The second slot was slowing, and the students that could see their own portraits slowly scrolling by cringed.

Finally, it landed on one. There was a shocked silence in the room.

"For the fourth match of the day," Glynda Goodwitch's clear voice echoed through the room, "Ruby Rose... versus Yang Xiao Long."

Ruby glanced up in surprise, checking to make sure that the system was indeed showing her sister as her opponent. Seeing that the results were in fact correct, a small grin found it's way to her face. She was one of Beacon's best fighters at this point, that was a given. But she had never beaten Yang before. Her older sister knew everything about her, knew her fighting style and every subtle nuance she would display before swinging Crescent Rose. With a weapon as heavy as her scythe, broadcasting your movements was inevitable, no matter how hard you tried to conceal them.

Yang was the only one who might be able to beat her. The blonde herself was currently on a six-match winning streak. But this was her chance, her opportunity to finally prove to her sister that she had grown up. That she was a woman now, capable of making her own decisions and finding her own path in life.

Yang vaulted over the railing, choosing to eschew the use of stairs in her typical showy fashion.

She landed on the balls of her feet, jumping up and down like a boxer and slamming her fists together.

Ruby made slow, deliberate movements as she stared at Yang and unslung Crescent Rose from her back. She held it like a rifle; she hadn't yet deployed it into scythe form. Her stance was steady, her feet shoulder-width apart. The barrel of Crescent Rose was raised halfway in a ready position.

"You know, when I woke up today," Yang said with a smirk, "beating up my little sister wasn't on the agenda."

Ruby smiled back, warm and honest. "You might wanna check it again. It still isn't."

Mocking jeers echoed from above as the students caught Ruby's comeback.

Yang laughed, a rich sound. "You know, I was gonna go easy on you."

"I wasn't."

Yang smirked. "So that's how it's gonna be? Fine then." She stood up straight and thrust a fist into the air. "This is it! A no-holds-barred, full-throttle, no-punches-held match between Yang Xiao Long and her sister, Ruby Rose! This is for the title, ladies and gents. May the best sister win!"

Ruby held her stance. She was ready, she told herself. The last time she fought Yang, she had suffered a crushing defeat. That had been a year ago, however. Things were different now. _She_ was different now. The past week had changed her in ways she hadn't known were possible. She had trained harder than ever before, pushed herself to speeds previously unthinkable, swung her massive scythe with more force that she realized she had in her body.

She was pushing herself harder than she ever had before, out of a newfound urge to better herself. She wanted to be strong. She wanted to be able to protect the things she cared about.

Glancing into the seats above, her gaze locked with eyes of ice blue. The owner of those cerulean orbs gave a nod of encouragement and a small smile.

She wanted to be able to protect Weiss. From her parents, from the Grimm, from anyone who would try to separate them. Now that she had the girl of her dreams, she wasn't letting go.

She grinned. She was ready.

Ms. Goodwitch looked at them both in turn. "Are you ready?"

Twin nods were her reply.

"Right then. Begin!"

Yang immediately blasted into action, holding her fists behind her and firing Ember Celica. She flew towards Ruby, who snapped Crescent Rose up and fired. She only had time for a single shot before the blonde was upon her, armored fists raining down blow after blow.

Ruby used her speed to dodge as much as she was able, covering the gaps in her defense with the flat barrel of her sniper rifle. As she did so, she lamented creating Crescent Rose with a bolt-action system. She didn't have the time she needed to fire multiple rounds, not with Yang pressing her so furiously. Or did she?

The blonde grinned wickedly, mixing kicks in with her bone-shattering punches. Ruby let her sister press the advantage, backing up steadily and bringing Yang in closer and closer. The blonde saw an opening, and drew her arm back for a devastating left hook.

Ruby whipped her head backwards, narrowly dodging the blow and transferring her momentum into a backflip. As her feet came up, they connected with Yang's chin with enough force to knock the blonde off of her feet.

Ruby landed firmly and ejected a spent shell casing. She allowed herself a small feeling of satisfaction. Her sister had _definitely_ not seen that coming.

Glancing up, she saw that the meter that tracked Yang's aura had dropped slightly. Nothing huge, but enough to give her opponent something to think about. She grinned.

Yang was still on the ground, and Ruby realized that she was laughing. As she watched, the older girl spun her legs around like a top, using the force to jump back onto her feet in a spinning kip up.

Cheers of appreciation sounded from above, and Yang performed a mock bow. "So, you've got a few new moves huh?"

"You could say that," Ruby replied. "I've gotten a lot stronger since we last fought."

As Ruby spoke, she observed the way that small tendrils of steam began to rise from Yang's body. That was her semblance: she got more damage she took, the more powerful she got. The blonde was at her deadliest when she was about to go down, like an animal backed into a corner. Many a foe had assumed they had beaten the brawler in the past, only to have a knockout punch connect with their jaw scant seconds later.

Ruby knew she had to end this quickly, in one strike preferably. The kick had just been to throw Yang off of her groove. She knew Yang relied on her anger in battle, and often-times she made rash or reckless decisions, especially if she felt she was being toyed or played with.

Ruby grinned. She knew just how to do that.

"What's the matter sis? Scared to use your scythe?"

In a flash, Ruby raised her rifle and loosed a barrage of shots, using her semblance to rack the bolt multiple times in a single second.

Yang dove out of the way, barely avoiding the rain of steel. She roared in fury and charged, aiming a brutal superman punch right at Ruby's head.

Ruby disappeared in a flurry of rose petals an instant before the blow landed, appearing on the other side of the arena and firing yet even more shots at Yang.

The blonde howled in rage, and Ruby smirked. She had her older sister on a leash now.

The battle continued like that for nearly a full minute: Yang dashing around the arena, only to find empty space and rose petals when she finally managed to close with Ruby. The brunette knew her sister wasn't in her right mind at this point; her eyes were blazing red and steam wafted off of her in waves. She was so angry that she wasn't even thinking of using Ember Celica's explosive shots to put Ruby on the back foot, and that was precisely what she wanted.

It was nearly time now. Both parties were breathing raggedly. Time to end this.

Ruby appeared in the middle of the arena, raised Crescent Rose, and lined up the perfect shot.

Yang whirled around and locked eyes with her. She exploded in rage, flames swirling around her in a fiery tornado. Cocking her fist back, she flew towards Ruby with all the speed she could muster.

Ruby fired, and the round spun through the air on a collision course with Yang's face.

Yang raised her other gauntlet, and the round spanged harmlessly off of it. But in doing so, she had blocked her own vision for a split second. Which was precisely what Ruby wanted.

Yang lowered the gauntlet, just in time to see Crescent Rose's fully extended scythe blade slam into her chest with the force of a truck.

She had still been flying towards Ruby at full speed and the blow knocked her off of her feet, but her momentum sent her sailing past her sister. She impacted the wall of the arena with a sickening crunch.

Stunned silence filled the room.

But as Ruby glanced up, she saw that Yang's aura bar was still flashing. Deep in the red, but there nonetheless. She knew she had mere seconds to end this, before Yang destroyed the entire amphitheater in sheer fury.

She vanished in a flash of rose petals, appearing directly beside Yang with her scythe held high in the air, blade pointed down. A killing - or in this case match-ending, - blow.

Yang, who was on all fours, looked up at her sister. Her eyes were lilac purple. Ruby knew what she was doing. She was hoping to elicit feelings of regret, to cause Ruby to hesitate. The brunette had always had a soft spot for her big sister, and Yang was trying to exploit that. Her purple eyes were pleading. This trick had always worked on Ruby, when they would spar as kids.

Ruby wasn't sixteen anymore. Without a second of hesitation, she brought the scythe down. The blade sped through the air, smashing through her sister's aura.

Exhibiting an amazing display of strength and dexterity, Ruby halted the blade scant centimeters from Yang's neck, the tip of the blade quivering.

Sharp gasps echoed through the amphitheater. Ruby pulled the blade up and folded Crescent Rose back into its rifle form, slinging it on her back.

Yang looked up at her in shock.

Ruby exhaled. "Like I said, I've gotten a lot stronger since we last fought." She reached her hand out towards Yang, and her sister instinctively took it, letting Ruby haul her to her feet.

She was panting, and started breathing slowly to get her breath back. "Yeah I just... I didn't expect you to go that far. You really didn't hold anything back did you?"

Ruby grinned. "Nope."

"And the match goes to Ms. Rose," Glynda announced. "Congratulations on a well-earned victory."

Ruby's picture on the viewing screen flashed green, while her sister's flashed red. Applause exploded throughout the room. The sheer amount of skill Ruby displayed had taken everyone by shock.

The brunette took a moment to bask in the praise, her eyes seeking out a particular set of clapping hands amongst the multitude. Surprisingly, or perhaps not so, Weiss was the only one not clapping. Instead though, she wore a bright smile, one filled with pride and satisfaction.

Ruby couldn't help but smile in response.

"But we still have time for one more match," Glynda said. She had to raise her voice to be heard over the applause. She beckoned towards the stairs. "Girls, if you would please take your seats."

Yang and Ruby nodded and strode towards the stairs, climbing them and taking their seats with a sort of measured calmness. Both had fought hard, and they knew it. There was a certain amount of pride to be had in that knowledge.

Once all the attention was off of her and onto speculations of the next matchup, Ruby bounced over to her partner. Weiss was sitting calmly on the upper bench, legs crossed and hands on her lap.

"Weiss! Did you see that?"

"Of course you dolt," the heiress said. "We're in an amphitheater, how could I have missed it?"

"Yeah but I mean, did you see all the cool stuff I did? I beat Yang!"

Weiss couldn't help herself, and her lips quirked up in a small smile. "Yes, I saw. Congratulations. It was a long time coming honestly. " She paused. Then, "You did really well out there."

Ruby giggled and sprang forwards, wrapping her arms around her secret girlfriend in a tight hug.

"R-Ruby! Not here," Weiss whispered harshly.

The brunette jumped back, folding her hands across her lap and returning to a sitting position. "I'm sorry, I just can't help it when you compliment me! It gives me this crazy little happy feeling that I don't know what to do with!"

Weiss blushed lightly, keeping her eyes trained ahead of her. She had to maintain her image as the Ice Queen, after all.

"I'll give you kiss later, all right? Just focus on the next match."

Ruby huffed in frustration, but the wide grin on her face belied her actions.

"First contestant... Weiss Schnee."

The heiress stood up quickly, smoothing her skirt and straightening her ponytail.

Ruby gazed up at her in adoration. She loved it when Weiss looked this determined. There was no doubt in her mind as to who would win the next match, regardless of the opponent. "Good luck Weiss!"

"Luck is for fools Ruby," she stated. "But thank you."

The second slot reel spun slower and slower. Faces were becoming recognizable.

Ruby watched, entranced, as Weiss closed her eyes and steadied her breathing. This was her pre-battle ritual, something she did to calm her mind and focus all of her razor-sharp intellect on a single objective. The brunette felt her pulse quicken. She truly must be the luckiest person on the planet, she thought, to be the partner, friend, and girlfriend of this perfect angel in front of her.

Around the room there were sharp intakes of breath and whistles of expectation. Ruby glanced around in surprise, wondering what was causing the excitement.

"For the fifth and final match of the day, Weiss Schnee... versus Ruby Rose."

* * *

Sighing internally, she glanced down at Ruby. The younger girl looked absolutely crestfallen. She shot her a smile in an attempt to cheer her up, but she knew it didnt't reach her eyes.

All eyes were now on the two of them, but Weiss didn't care. "Ruby, are you okay to fight? After Yang?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." She laughed nervously. "Let's just get this over with."

Weiss nodded. As she and Ruby strode towards the stairs, she couldn't help but feel a nervous sensation in the pit of her stomach. Deep down, she knew Ruby would never consciously hurt her, but after the absolute lack of hesitation she had shown while dealing with Yang, the rational part of her brain wasn't so sure.

And even with that aside, Ruby was an incredibly strong fighter with an innate grasp of tactics. She could take devastating blows and keep fighting; she had a determination to win that was nearly unmatched in the school. But that wasn't what made her dangerous. No, what made her so deadly was her ability to adapt. She never fought the same way twice anymore. While she was fighting, she analyzed her opponents strategy and either countered it or used it against them.

Ruby hadn't been wrong when she had teased Weiss about the fact that they hadn't sparred in months. Weiss knew that she was still holding on to her own stubborn pride.

If they didn't fight, she couldn't lose. And as much as she wanted to see Ruby succeed, she didn't want to see her younger partner surpass her in skill and ability. Call it selfish, call it vain. She wasn't perfect, she reminded herself.

And with that new perspective, she re-evaluated the potential outcomes of the fight. If the likely outcome happened, and she lost, she would finally be able to let go of that same stubborn pride that had prevented her from sparring with Ruby. And If she was being honest with herself, she missed those sessions. She missed watching Ruby in action, pitting her skill against her partners. She missed the smooth rhythm they often fell into: attack, counterattack, parry, attack.

She smiled as she reached the floor of the amphitheater. She _wanted_ Ruby to win now. Ruby's victory would destroy one of the last barriers that still stood between them. And she wanted to be as close to her girlfriend as possible.

"_I still can't get used to that word. Girlfriend. Girl friend. It's been an entire week and yet still... Ruby Rose is my... my girlfriend," _she thought to herself.

The thought made her happy, even though she was about to fight the exact same person that was the cause of that happiness.

Gazing across the arena, she watched Ruby unlimber Crescent Rose and extend it into a massive scythe. The sheer strength in Ruby's body never ceased to impress her, even after almost three years of being her partner.

She unhooked Myrtenaster from its belt-loop and held it out in front of her.

She noticed that Ruby still looked hesitant. "Don't hold back," she called.

"...Okay. You too," the brunette answered. But still, the nervous look in her eyes remained. She held Crescent Rose behind her, the haft pointing towards the heiress and the blade angled toward the ceiling.

Goodwitch cleared her throat. "Very well, are you both ready?"

"Yes," Weiss announced. Ruby only nodded.

"Begin!"

Nothing happened. Neither party made a move. An expectant silence permeated the air.

They stared eachother down, ice blue clashing with steel grey.

The more she thought about it, the more she wanted Ruby to come out the victor. But yet, she was still Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. And she did not go down without a fight.

Stepping to the left, she began circling her opponent. The brunette mirrored her actions, stepping to the right, never breaking the heiress' gaze.

She deliberated as she walked. The only way to beat Ruby, she realized, would be to negate her incredible speed. Luckily she had not one, but two tools suited for the job. Her glyphs, which could immobilize and trap Ruby, and ice dust, which did the same. One was her semblance, and the other could be fired out of her hybrid rapier/revolver.

While she was thinking her plan through, her razor-sharp senses were watching Ruby for any sign of irregular movement, any change in the baseline she had already formed while watching Ruby pace.

It only took a few seconds.

There. Ruby's left foot, her lead foot, shifted ever so slightly.

***WHOOSH***

A rushing sound filled the air as Ruby's scythe sliced through the air where Weiss had just stood. The crowd was astonished; the brunette had closed the gap between her opponent in the blink of an eye. Even more astonishing however, was the fact that Weiss had flipped over the attack, spinning in mid-air to present her rapier.

A loud crack resounded as a blazing bolt of burn dust flashed towards Ruby, who dove and rolled out of the way. A blackened circle smoldered where she had just stood.

Weiss landed gracefully, spinning around and holding her rapier at the ready. Ruby turned too, facing the heiress again. The two resumed their pacing, steadily circling eachother, looking for any opening or sign of weakness.

This time Weiss was the one to rush forward, in an attempt to catch Ruby off guard. The brunette stood her ground, blocking the heiress' first stab and twirling her scythe around to deliver a blow of her own. The next few seconds were a deadly blur of action, Weiss stabbing, thrusting, turning Ruby's scythe blade away at the last second. Ruby spun and twisted, using her body to evade Weiss' slashes and her scythe to block her stabs. Weiss knew her partner had her beat in terms of sheer strength, so instead of attempting to block Ruby's powerful strokes, she used her rapier to turn them aside with the minimal amount of force required.

Multiple blows were being exchanged in a single second; the battle appeared as a flashing blur to the audience. Sparks flew as steel met steel.

A gentle smile found it's way to her face as she slipped back into the easy rhythm she had missed so much. There was a certain connection that formed between two people while they were fighting, something that could only be found in the heat of battle. While her body reflexively blocked Ruby's blows and delivered strikes of her own, she found herself admiring her partner.

Ruby really was beautiful when she fought. The way she became one with her scythe and manipulated it like it was second nature, she made it seem more like dancing than fighting. She had grace as well as power, blending brutal force with incredible speed and pinpoint accuracy. Weiss easily understood now, how Ruby was one of the best, if not _the_ best fighter at Beacon.

They clashed together in a particularly heavy strike, and Ruby pressed forward, trying to overpower the heiress and break through her guard.

Weiss knew that would spell doom for her, so she flipped backwards, landing on her hands and then her feet.

Ruby rested her scythe on her shoulders and grinned at the her opponent. "I'd almost forgotten how fun this was!"

Weiss laughed, heady from the adrenaline coursing through her system.

She took slow, deep breaths, attempting to slow her pounding heart. She could see Ruby breathing heavily as well. She knew it wasn't just the strenuous activity that was causing her heart to beat so fast. At that moment she realized something. Looking at her partner, who was standing strong and unbowed in the warm glow of the arena lights, her cloak somehow flowing in the nonexistent breeze, - had she learned how to control the wind already? - she realized that she was fully enamored with her. And as she considered it, she couldn't help but think that it wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

"Weiss? You okay?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes I'm fine. I was distracted, sorry."

"I bet," Ruby said. There was a knowing smirk on her face. She lowered her voice so that her next words were between the two of them. "See something you like?"

She blushed furiously. "If I did, I would never say so in front of all these people."

"Well maybe you can tell me later then." Ruby readied her scythe. "Cuz I still have a match to win."

Weiss pointed Myrtenaster at Ruby, pulling the hilt back to her cheek. "Arrogance doesn't suit you Ruby."

"Arrogance isn't the same thing as confidence Weiss."

The heiress inclined her head in acknowledgement. "Hmm."

Her mind turned to thoughts of battle. Specifically, to a way to beat Ruby. She thought of her desired end-state, which was Ruby frozen in ice or immobilized by glyphs, and worked backwards from that point. A wicked grin appeared on her face as she finalized her plan.

Ruby narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

Without warning Weiss shot forward, right hand thrusting with Myrtenaster extended while the right created a glyph below Ruby's feet. The brunette glanced down, and smiled.

Why was she smiling? Ruby dodged to the side, putting her precisely where Weiss wanted her. Then she looked up and swung her scythe.

Weiss frowned in puzzlement. She was still a dozen feet from the heiress, and wouldn't be able to bring her scythe back up in time to block, given the speed that Weiss was traveling.

Whatever the case, Ruby was right where she wanted her. That was what she was thinking, right until a massive blast of wind slammed into her and threw her all the way across the arena.

Cursing herself as she struggled to rise, she realized that she hadn't taken into account Ruby's newly discovered control over wind. What was surprising however, was how quickly the brunette had gone from blowing notes across a room to blowing a full-sized human being across an arena. She must have been working on it in secret. The thought filled the heiress with unrest. Ruby was supposed to tell her everything, as her partner if not her girlfriend. She resolved to question her about it later.

Right now, she was focusing on standing and catching her breath, which had been knocked out of her when she tumbled across the smooth stone floor.

She looked up, thinking that Ruby was probably already halfway across the arena on her way to follow up her wind strike.

Confusion marred her features. Ruby wasn't there. Where was she?

A crushing force slammed into her back, knocking her back to the ground and sending her skidding across the floor_. _Her aura softened the impact, but it couldn't lessen the pain she felt from smacking her head into the ground. Aura could deflect projectiles or blades; it couldn't move floors.

_Ruby was already behind her._ Dust, the girl was fast. _Too_ fast.

She got up as quickly as she could, desperately holding Myrtenaster in front of her to deflect any incoming blows. Too late, she realized that Ruby had put her on the back foot. And when Ruby had you on the back foot, you had already lost.

The brunette was already inside her guard, and the her free hand swung around and slapped the blade of her rapier to the side. As it happened, Weiss looked into her partner's eyes. Her expression was blank and they were empty; she had clinically detached herself from the fight. That was bad.

Ruby brought a knee up into her gut, forcing her breath out in a gasp, then spun around and slammed the pole end of Crescent Rose into the side of her head as she doubled over.

The blows were crushing, and would have broken bones if her aura wasn't absorbing the kinetic energy.

She stumbled to the side, but Ruby wasn't done. Weiss brought her eyes up in time to see her girlfriend's foot crash into her leg, buckling it as she fell down on one knee. None of the blows hurt physically, because of her aura, but they hurt in a different way. She knew that Ruby didn't mean any of what she was doing, but still... she was merciless.

As she knelt on her left knee, she had the presence of mind to glance up at the bars tracking each contestant's aura. Hers was nearly gone. Ruby's was still full.

She brought her eyes forward again. Ruby had her scythe pulled back, to strike the final blow that would undoubtedly end the match. It was all happening in slow motion. This was what she wanted, she remembered. For Ruby to win, for Ruby to break down that last barrier of pride that separated them. For Weiss to finally acknowledge that Ruby had surpassed her.

She realized now, why exactly she didn't want Ruby to beat her. If she did, it would mean that Ruby had outgrown her. That she didn't need Weiss' guidance anymore. She had always been a sort of mentor to Ruby, as well as her partner and her friend. She had held on to that position as long as possible, as a way to keep the brunette to herself. Ruby was going out to to with Yang? No, she was staying with Weiss and studying. Ruby was taking a trip with Penny to Vacuo over the summer? No, she had barely passed the last semester, and needed to stay with Weiss to improve her academics and combat skills.

It had been her way of holding on to Ruby, her way of making sure that the girl that she had grown so dependent on couldn't leave her. It was pathetic, really. But she couldn't bring herself to feel bad about it. After all, look what it had brought about in the end. Now, she had a relationship with Ruby that was far deeper and more intimate than just mentor and student. With a burst of joy, she realized that she didn't need to be Ruby's mentor anymore. It was true, the girl had outgrown her when it came to the battlefield. But everyone had their strong points. Now, they could fully be partners. Complementing and supporting eachother, acting as one unit capable of doing so much more than they could apart.

All these thoughts flashed through her mind as Ruby's scythe sped towards her. She closed her eyes. She was ready, she decided. Ready for Ruby to win. Ready for them to truly become partners.

She opened her eyes. The blow hadn't come. Ruby was still there, holding her scythe at the ready, but this time her eyes weren't dispassionate and uninterested. No, this time they were full of hesitation and fear.

It warmed her heart to think that Ruby would hesitate for her and not for Yang, but at the same time, she needed this to happen. "Ruby," she whispered. "Don't hold back."

Ruby nodded, making up her mind in a split second. Weiss' reassurance had apparently done wonders for her. She shot Weiss a sad smile and swung her scythe. The heiress closed her eyes.

At the last instant before Ruby's swing landed, Weiss felt her aura flare up, brighter than ever before. As if it wasn't just her own, as if something else was lending it strength.

Crescent Rose connected, forcing her eyes open as it slammed into her harder than any blow she could ever remember. Ruby's scythe had not only weight and strength behind it, but blinding speed as well.

She blacked out. The last thing she remembered was her field of view becoming horizontal as the walls of the arena sped past her.

* * *

Warm arms. Wrapped tight around her. Whose? She opened her eyes, then smiled. Ruby's.

Almost immediately, her heart softened at the sheer depth of care and concern in the brunette's eyes, as she mouthed words that Weiss was unable to make out. But then slowly, like water breaking through a dam, her hearing returned.

"-okay? Weiss? Weiss, are you okay?!"

As her hearing returned, so too did her hawkish perception of the world around her. She realized how the two of them must have looked: a little too intimate, even for partners.

She gently shrugged Ruby's arms off of her, and shakily stood. "Yes dolt, I'm fine." She smiled at her partner. "No thanks to you."

"I'm sorry! I didn't want to-"

"Oh hush. I told you not to hold back. It's completely fine; I'm glad you won anyway."

Ruby sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck. "Well… that's the thing. I didn't exactly win… yet."

"Yet?" Weiss asked, perplexed.

The brunette gestured up at the aura meters on the screen. Ruby's was down to a third. Weiss' was full.

"Wha… what?" Weiss was stunned. That made absolutely no sense. Ruby's blow should have completely drained her aura, and yet there it was, green and completely filled.

Goodwitch's authoritative voice filled the room, as she stepped down onto the arena floor and made her way over to them. "The match is a draw! That concludes our matches for today. Now remember students, it is a Friday, so make sure to enjoy your weekend. However, do _not_ think that means you can slack off in the rest of the day's classes. You are dismissed."

She lowered her voice and turned to the two of them. "You two, are not dismissed. We have something to discuss in my office."

* * *

Glynda's office was kept at a near-frigid temperature. Not that the heiress minded.

She and Ruby sat in front of a large mahogany desk, which was covered in neatly organized stacks of papers and official-looking documents. The only personal touch was a small vase in the corner, which contained a single sprig of lavender. The rest of the room was nearly bare, the white walls unblemished by neither pictures nor furniture.

Apparently Ms. Goodwitch liked things simple and sterile.

Glancing to her left, Weiss noticed that her partner looked nervous. Her legs were crossed, and both her hands were in her lap. Weiss reached across the gap between them and took one of her hands, caressing the top of it with her thumb. It had a visible effect on Ruby, the brunette looking sidelong at her and smiling.

The door opened behind them, and Weiss quickly withdrew her hand. The sound of clicking high heels filled the room, shattering the silence as Glynda strode over to her desk and took a seat.

Weiss noticed that her hand felt cold; she was already missing Ruby's touch.

The blonde removed her glasses, then closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose. She let out a deep sigh before saying: "What, was that."

Weiss chose to answer first. "What was what?"

"You know what. That aura transfer you two pulled off in the arena. I don't know how you did it without any official training, let alone in those circumstances, but I know one when I see it."

"Aura… transfer?" Ruby questioned. Weiss was forced to admit she was equally clueless.

Glynda looked incredulous. "Wait… you mean to tell me that neither of you know what an aura transfer is?"

The two of them shook their heads.

"And yet you somehow managed one of in the middle of a fight, even though the fight was between the two of you?"

They glanced at each other, both unsure of what to say.

Goodwitch sighed heavily. "Very well. I believe you are telling the truth, and I can hardly blame you for breaking the rules of the arena unintentionally."

Weiss spoke up. "I don't remember aura transfer being against the rules. In fact, I don't remember it being in the rules in the first place, and I've gone over them extensively."

"That's because they're not in the written copies you students have access to. The reason being, is that not many people are aware of its existence in the first place. And even for those that are, few among them have formed the kind of bond needed to perform such a feat."

Both girls looked slightly confused, although Weiss was beginning to understand what the technique entailed.

Goodwitch folded her hands atop the desk. "It appears I owe you two an explanation. Let me start of by making it clear that you are to tell no one of what I say here. Aura transfer is a secret technique, but only because it is so dangerous. If you attempt an aura transfer without the appropriate pre-requisites, you will be killed."

Ruby blanched, and Weiss slid her hand into the brunette's again. Under the desk, of course.

"So obviously, you both know that people with sufficient control over their aura can manifest it as a shield, to deflect and absorb the force of incoming attacks. When one's aura runs out, that person is left open to the blows of their enemies. Now, aura transfer is a relatively simple concept. You drain your own aura, and give it to someone else. It replenishes over time, of course, but it can still leave you vulnerable for a short while."

Her voice was calm and informative as she talked. "The amount of aura given differs from transfer to transfer, but some theorize that the amount of aura given increases depending on the severity of the situation and the urgency that the giver feels. Thus, if you were to transfer some of your aura to a person who is about to suffer a deathblow, they would receive much more than if you gave them some of your aura in a domestic situation. Do you two understand so far?"

Ruby nodded, and Weiss followed suit.

"Good, because here is where things get complicated. To transfer your aura to someone else, the giver and the receiver must have a bond. And not just something like the relationship between partners, or even lovers." Weiss attempted to hide her blush at the implication. "The bond must run far, far deeper than that. Very few people ever form such a bond, even with their family members, spouses, or partners."

She paused, taking a deep breath before continuing. "No one knows exactly how or why this bond is formed. In most cases though, both people have described sensations of their auras bonding with each others, almost intertwining."

She saw Ruby glance at her out of the corner of her eye. She nodded almost imperceptibly.

"I simply cannot stress enough how rare this bond is. And that is why this technique is kept secret. If it were well-known, as it was in the past, people would start trying it again, if only in sheer desperation to save their friends or loved ones. "

Weiss looked down in contemplation, struggling to analyze everything Glynda was explicitly stating, and subtly implying. So… she and Ruby had that bond?

"Here's a situation. You're married to another hunter, and both of you are in battle against a den of Ursa. Your spouse falls to the ground, and you know the next blow from the Ursa he is fighting will kill him, because his aura is spent. If you knew of the technique of aura transfer and its basic employment, would you not try it, in a last-ditch effort to save his life?"

Ruby seemed mortified by the prospect. "Well of course I'd try to save her! If I…" She trailed off, realizing what she had just said. Goodwitch simply raised an eyebrow, glancing between the two of them. Weiss dropped her hand into her hands and screwed her eyes shut. This couldn't be happening.

"Uh, I mean… I'd try to save him?" Ruby attempted.

The damage was already done. But it seemingly didn't matter to the blonde. "Honestly, I don't care what you two are to each other behind closed doors. It's none of my business. Just don't let it interfere with your training, that's all I ask. Now, back to the topic at hand."

Weiss let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. It appeared that their secret was safe, for now. She silently thanked Glynda for her understanding, or, lacking that, her complete disinterest.

The blonde took a deep breath, as if preparing to say something of great import. "If you attempt an aura transfer with someone who you do_ not _share that bond with, both parties will die. When you try to transfer your aura to someone who rejects it, which always happens without that bond, it is somehow corrupted as it is sent back. Your body and soul then rejects it; the feedback kills you."

She shivered involuntarily. She and Ruby could have died? A part of her wanted to be mad at the girl next to her for performing the aura transfer, but the rational part of her remembered that the brunette hadn't even known of the technique in the first place. Somehow, it must have been instinctual.

"That's why it's a secret. Combat deaths would increase exponentially, as partners and friends attempted aura transfer on their dying loved ones. As cold as it may seem, it is better to lose one hunter than two."

It was undoubtedly cold-hearted, but Weiss couldn't deny the logic behind the decision to keep the technique a secret.

Ruby chose that moment to speak up. "So, what you're saying is… I somehow transferred my aura to Weiss, right before I… before I hit her?" She winced as she said the last part of the sentence.

"It would appear so. Normally, aura transfer takes a few seconds, and requires intense concentration. The fact that you gave her almost the entirety of your aura's strength, at the same time as you consciously swung your scythe at her with violent intent… it speaks volumes about the depth of the bond you two have formed. All those factors, combined with the knowledge that neither of you knew of the technique… well, such a thing is completely unprecedented. The bond you two share is without a doubt, the strongest I have ever seen. I do not know how it came about. I don't particularly care. I just felt the two of you should be aware of the bond you have apparently formed, and the potential consequences of aura transfer. "

Ruby sat straighter than before, as if she realized how much responsibility had been placed on her. Weiss realized she felt the same way. She had a direct connection to Ruby's soul now, and the brunette had a direct connection to hers. She should have felt scared, terrified even that someone had gotten so close to her, but strangely, she felt nothing but safe. She realized then, that if anyone in the entire world had to hold her soul in their hands, she wanted it to be Ruby and no one else.

She vowed, then and there, to do everything in her power to protect Ruby's soul. There was nothing more precious to her, nothing more precious in the entire world. It felt as if a weight had been added to her shoulders, but one she was perfectly happy bearing. It would give her strength.

Ruby squeezed her hand gently. She had almost forgotten they were holding hands, so the sensation caused her to flinch.

The brunette quickly pulled her hand back with a worried expression, but just as quickly Weiss shot her hand out and grabbed Ruby's before she could pull away. Her partner still looked worried, so she shot her a warm smile, as if to say "everything will be okay."

After a moment of hesitation, Ruby smiled back.

Goodwitch cleared her throat, and both girls sheepishly turned back towards her, remembering exactly whose office they were in.

"You are both dismissed. And remember, tell no one of what you have learned here. If they pry, simply tell them that the system was tampered with, and that was why I needed to talk to you. Tell them they can come talk to me if they want to confirm it."

Ruby stood up. "Thank you. For letting us know. We'll be sure to be careful."

Weiss stood as well, pushing her and Ruby's chairs in as she stepped away. "Careful is an understatement of what we'll be. Thank you Ms. Goodwitch."

The blonde nodded and gestured toward the door. They opened it and stepped outside. Just as Weiss was closing it, Glynda's voice echoed out from the room. "Oh, and girls? Cherish this bond. It is a rare thing indeed." She smiled. "And you two make a cute couple."

Weiss blushed furiously, almost slamming the door shut.

* * *

The two of them walked side-by-side, down the hallway leading away from Goodwitch's office. The walls were wooden and old, dust lamps set into the walls barely lending any light to the gloom.

Both girls were silent, their minds digesting all the information they had been imparted.

Turning the corner, they nearly ran straight into Yang and Blake.

"Whoa- Yang?"

"Sup sis."

"Uh, shouldn't you be at your next class? Not that I'm not happy to see you or anything!" Ruby rushed forward and gave her sister a quick hug, which Yang returned with a smile.

"Good afternoon Blake," Weiss said.

"Hi Weiss. This is Yang's doing, by the way. I was perfectly fine with you two sorting this out amongst yourselves."

The heiress was puzzled. What did Blake mean by that? A sudden panic struck her as she realized that if Ms. Goodwitch had found out their hidden relationship, Yang probably had too. The girl was sharp, more than people gave her credit for, and especially when it came to Ruby.

Yang released Ruby from the hug, turned to Weiss, and stared her dead in the eyes. Her lilac-purple gaze was as intimidating as ever, but the heiress refused to be cowed. She stared right back.

Yang asked bluntly, "What was that? Back in the arena?"

"That was Ruby winning our duel."

"I know that. I'm going to ignore the aura thing, for now. But when she was about to finish you off, she hesitated. She didn't even do that for **me**," she said as she pointed to herself. "There's something going on between you two." She turned to look at Ruby. "And I just wish you'd be honest with me about it."

Ruby stood slightly behind the heiress, looking downward. Weiss shrugged. "I don't know what to say. If Ruby really wants to tell you, she will."

Yang turned her gaze to Ruby. "Well? You're my sister Ruby. You can tell me anything, you know that?"

Ruby's words from before echoed in her head. _"You can tell me anything, you know that?"_ The two sisters were so similar, yet so different.

The brunette chewed her bottom lip, looking as indecisive as Weiss had ever seen someone. She glanced towards the heiress for support, for approval even. It was easy to see that she _wanted _to tell Yang.

Weiss looked down, struggling to come up with a solution. She knew she couldn't keep lying to Yang forever. And the more she thought about it, the less her reasoning for not telling Ruby's sister about their relationship held out. Actually, she realized, there was no good reason _not_ to tell her. If anything, even if she didn't have the blonde's support, it would be nice to be rid of her pestering and her questioning glares. Well then, that settled it. She met Ruby's eyes and smiled, then nodded.

Ruby apparently got the message: her face lit up with joy. She whipped back around to face Yang and nearly squealed, "Weiss and me are dating!"

Weiss smacked her palm into her face. "Weiss and I," she muttered.

Blake remained impassive, but Weiss swore she saw a glint of humor in her golden eyes. Yang simply nodded, as if she had known all along, and wore a wry smile.

"I was gonna ask if Ruby was okay with this. Guess I don't need to anymore. I noticed she looked happy lately, like, happier than usual, so I figured as much. Good to finally hear you say it though. Was that really that hard?"

Ruby looked back towards her girlfriend. "Well uh, it wasn't really my idea. I wanted to tell you as soon as possible, but Weiss wanted us to keep it a secret."

Curse that girl's honesty. Yang's face hardened for a split second. "You telling me you don't want to be seen with Ruby or something?"

Weiss struggled to control her irritation with the entire situation. "No, nothing like that. If I could Yang, and I want to, I would walk everywhere with my hand in Ruby's." She sighed apprehensively. Ruby seemed to know what she was about to say, and, remembering that Weiss disliked talking about her family, slipped her hand into Weiss'.

"It's just… my family, Yang. They would never approve of me being with another girl, let alone one that is in no way wealthy or well-off in society. By their line of thinking, how am I supposed to produce a proper heir and carry on the family tradition if I don't marry a man? That's all I am to them."

The blonde's eyes softened, and she nodded in understanding.

"I'm nothing more than a… than a baby-making machine. They don't care about what I want, what I like, none of that matters to them, it never has." She stopped and took a deep breath. Ruby squeezed her hand. "Ruby… Ruby is special to me Yang. Please believe me, I would never hurt her or do anything to make her sad. I want her to be happy, as happy as she makes me. And believe me. She makes me the happiest girl in the entire world."

Ruby beamed with happiness as Weiss spoke, and even Blake's normally stony face was touched with an uncharacteristic softness.

"So… I know I don't really have the right to do this, after keeping it a secret from you but… if I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it right."

Weiss straightened, meeting the blonde's gaze with a determined stare.

"Yang Xiao Long. May I please date your sister?"

* * *

Weiss sat back on her bed, tapping her foot and waiting impatiently for her partner to finish getting ready. The sun was already beginning to set.

She herself had already changed over into a white dress that stopped at her knees, with a creamy-white jacket covering it.

She shifted, adjusting the simple diamond earrings that she felt complimented her outfit quite well. Then, she pulled the jacket up, feeling her arms fill the sleeves completely. It was lined, designed to keep the wearer warm. And she knew she would need that particular feature.

Fall was approaching, as evidenced by the burnished orange leaves floating through the air outside. The days were growing colder and colder, and she was being forced to start dressing appropriately.

Classes had finished for the day, and it was a Friday, which meant it was time for one of their weekly excursions into town. Although this time, it was different. This time, it was a _date_. She turned the word over in her mind, contemplated it. Despite how alien and strange it seemed when applied to her and her partner, she decided that she liked it. She was going on a date with Ruby. It brought a smile to her face.

The bathroom door opened and Ruby stepped out, her expectant features glowing with joy. The brunette was wearing a red and black-striped long-sleeved shirt, complete with a pair of black overalls. Weiss giggled when she saw the black bow in Ruby's hair. It certainly made her look childish and immature, but if it wasn't the cutest thing she'd ever seen…

Then she noticed something out of the ordinary. "Ruby, where's your cloak?"

The brunette gestured toward her pocket. "Oh, I just didn't really want to wear it tonight. I know you don't want to draw attention to us, so I just folded it up and put it in my pocket."

Did she really mean that much to Ruby? She valued her over her mother's cloak? Warmth blossomed in her heart as she realized that yes, maybe she did.

She struggled to keep a straight face. "Ruby… I just want to run up to you and cuddle you to death."

Ruby laughed. "Please do!"

"Well I'm certainly not going to just-" _"Oh, who am I kidding?_ "…Well, maybe later."

Ruby giggled as she twirled around, her hair swishing with the movement. "So you like my outfit?"

"It's the most immature, childish thing I've ever seen you wear."

Ruby looked stung.

"But it also makes you look like the most adorable thing on the face of the planet. I think I'm going to have trouble keeping my bearing around you tonight…"

The brunette instantly recovered, laughing and bounding forward as she tackled Weiss onto the bed.

The heiress didn't struggle, wrapping her arms around Ruby's waist and enveloping her lips in a forceful kiss. She was trying to capture Ruby, attempting to draw out the sweet essence of her mouth and make it hers forever. Ruby leaned into the kiss, moaning softly as her eyelids fluttered closed.

When they finally pulled apart and sat up, Weiss was blushing heavily and biting her bottom lip. She was slightly worried. The way Ruby was dressed… it would be a constant struggle to keep herself away from her, to keep herself from wanting to pin Ruby against the wall in some dark corner and… and…

She mentally slapped herself. Now was far too early in their relationship to be thinking such perverse thoughts. She didn't even have any experience with that! And as she thought about it, she realized that she still hadn't fully accepted that she would eventually be having… well, sex, with another girl.

"_Not that I'm opposed to it…"_ she thought as she gazed into Ruby's eyes. _"But I always thought my first time would be with a man…" _

But as the brunette smiled sweetly at her, she realized that as long as it was with Ruby, it didn't matter.

"Uh, hey Weiss?"

She found it difficult to speak. "Hmm?"

"Could I… could I braid your hair? Before we go out?"

Weiss thought about it. Did Ruby even know how to braid hair? The heiress had always considered her snow-white locks precious; what if Ruby messed them up?

But one look at Ruby, at her puppy-dog stare and her cute little overalls with her cute little bow and her questioning grey eyes…

"Yes. You can."

Ruby let out a squeal of glee and motioned for the heiress to turn around with too-quick movements. She complied, reaching up behind her and undoing her ponytail, letting her achromatic locks tumble down to pool onto the white sheets.

"I'll be **super** careful with it, don't worry."

Weiss hummed in acceptance. Ruby was already running her fingers up and down her hair, and the sensation was wonderful. Something still weighed on her mind though, and it wasn't the revelation of the aura transfer. After a few seconds, she decided to give voice to her worries, remembering that there was nothing she couldn't share with Ruby.

The brunette began separating and twisting her hair, forming layer after layer until a long braid started to form.

"I still can't believe that Yang was okay with… with us."

Weiss heard the smile in Ruby's words. "Eh, you don't really know her as well as I do. Sure, she can get a little, err, well, a **lot** overprotective of me, but she only wants me to be happy. I think she saw how happy you make me, and that's all it would take for her to be fine with us being together."

Weiss was slow in answering. "I really make you happy?"

The thought that she could be enough to satisfy another person, to be the object of their affections and to have them truly love her as she knew Ruby did… it was something she had never dreamed of.

"Yeap." Ruby said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. And maybe, Weiss realized, it was.

As she worked, Ruby began humming softly, a quiet, calming tune that soothed her nerves.

"What are you humming?" Weiss asked.

"Oh, just an old nursery rhyme my mom used to sing to me. It's one of the things I remember really well about her, and I used to sing it when I would braid Yang's hair."

"It's beautiful," Weiss murmured. But then she seemed to realize something, stiffening as she said, "Wait, Yang actually let someone touch her hair?"

"Mmhmm! All the time actually." The brunette lightly grasped her shoulder, stopping her work while she talked. "When I would get scared or sad or something, she would always turn around and tell me to put her hair into some type of braid. She taught me lots of different ones, but I think this one will look prettiest on you."

"That's… nice." Weiss reached up and covered Ruby's hand with her own. "I learned hairstyles from my servants and attendants. And they were a little, well, rough with my hair. They looked at it as just a job, I guess, and wanted to get done as quickly as possible."

Ruby growled. "You tell me if anyone ever touches your hair again. If anyone even looks at it wrong…"

Weiss couldn't help but laugh. "I had no idea you were so possessive…"

Ruby sounded sheepish as she answered. "Well, only with things I really, really care about. Like Yang, or Crescent Rose, or my cloak. Or… you."

Weiss' voice dropped to a whisper. "Thank you," she said with a smile.

Ruby continued her work as gently as possible, treating the heiress' hair with such care and love that it filled her heart with a glowing warmth. Her skin tingled every time Ruby's fingers brushed along her back, and her stomach fluttered when the brunette paused to press a soft kiss to the back of her neck.

"Did I ever tell you that your hair is the most beautiful thing in the world? Uh, besides you of course."

A blush of color dusted the heiress' features. "No, you haven't. But you can as much as you like," she answered quickly.

Ruby giggled. "Well for one I love the color, it's so unique and just so… you. It's like fresh snow, clean and pure and you just want to roll around in it and make snow angels. One like you."

"What did I tell you about calling me that?" She asked in mock anger.

Ruby stuck her tongue out. "Well if Neptune and Jaune get to, then I do too!"

"They _don't_ get to," Weiss laughed. "Not anymore at least. If _you_ really want to call me that, that's fine, but only if you prevent them from ever saying it again. I can tolerate it from you, but only you."

"That works for me," Ruby hummed. "Next time Neptune says 'snow angel,' he's gonna find the barrel of Crescent Rose in his face."

Weiss grinned. "I love it when you get possessive."

"For I am a jealous girlfriend," Ruby uttered, following it up with a giggle. "Hey, I got an idea. Trust me, just relax." She stopped her work for a second, moved her hands to Weiss' shoulders and began massaging them slowly.

She moaned involuntarily and slouched backward, melting into Ruby. The younger girl's touch was sublime, and her mind blanked out from the sheer pleasure of it, losing track of time. After a while, Ruby went back to braiding her hair. Weiss straightened with a blush, gazing at her feet.

"I learned that from Yang too. She's good at a lot of things you wouldn't expect."

The heiress only nodded.

"You really like to be pampered, don't you?" Ruby asked.

Weiss sighed. The question was innocent enough, and as vain as saying 'yes' would be, she couldn't bring herself to lie to Ruby. Her voice softened. "Well… yes. But only by someone who really wants to do it…"

She had had enough of people paying her false compliments and braiding her hair only because they were paid to, with rough hands and uncaring fingers.

"Well that's good then." Ruby's voice was equally as soft. "Because I like to, a lot."

The brunette started humming again, and Weiss relaxed into her caring touch, happier than she could ever remember being.

* * *

She slowed her pace and fell back just a tiny bit, letting Weiss draw ahead of her. She made it as unnoticeable as possible, and thankfully the heiress maintained the same walking speed. It was a little selfish, she knew, and it would have been far easier to just ask. But she wanted to watch the older girl without her being aware of it. So, she watched.

Weiss' white dress swayed as she walked. She almost strutted, her hips moving from side to side as her high heeled boots clacked on the sidewalk. Her perfume drifted backwards into Ruby's nose, the scent of wildflowers comforting and familiar. Her double-braided ivory hair bounced as she walked, the small blue bow tied to the end of it making Ruby's heart pound.

"_Gosh she's just so perfect… how did I get so lucky?"_

Weiss glanced backwards, noticing that Ruby had fallen behind. Her eyes shined in the glow from the streetlamps lining the road. "Ruby?"

"Huh? Oh! Sorry!" She rushed forward, drawing level with her partner again. "I got uh, distracted."

The heiress looked skeptical. "By what?"

Ruby lowered her gaze to the sidewalk as she walked. "Uuuh… you."

A small arm wrapped itself around her shoulders and pulled her closer. "Feel free to be distracted as much as you want. Just don't fall back too far and get lost. That's totally something a dolt like you would do."

Ruby smiled and encircled the heiress' waist with her own arm, but was surprised when the other girl suddenly pulled away.

Looking to the side, she noticed that Weiss was blushing and looking straight ahead.

"Um, you okay?"

She nodded. "I'm sorry. I just… I almost forgot where we were. That we were in public," she corrected.

Ruby glanced around, remembering the heiress' reluctance to openly display affection around others. She reminded herself that it wasn't any fault of Weiss', but logically, any random passerby could recognize her, snap a picture, and then her parents would undoubtedly find out.

And then it would all be over.

"_No,"_ Ruby corrected herself. _"It won't. Now that I have Weiss, I'm never letting her go. Not for anyone." _

They were on a sidewalk that ran along the beach, on their way to one of Vale's famous piers. Most of the piers were more like carnivals than anything else, lined with games and shops, restaurants and other attractions. Darkness had fallen a short while before, and the horizon was still a dark purple, tinted by the fading light of the sun. Only a few stars shone through the curtain of night up above.

In the distance, the ocean was a deep blue, vast and mysterious in its endlessness as it stretched out into infinity. Who knew what ancient things slumbered in its depths?

And yet as gloomy as these things might have colored the world around them, the atmosphere was alight with the sounds and colors of Vale's awakening night life. Neon lights from the various attractions shone in the dark, swirling patterns of bright colors happy and carefree as they danced along the pier. People shouted and laughed as they travelled from place to place, their hands full of stuffed prizes and fried food. A gentle susurrus of wind tickled her exposed skin and filled her nose with the scent of the ocean.

Ruby felt a huge grin form on her face as she watched the pier from afar, picking up her pace as she grabbed Weiss' hand and started pulling her along.

"You dolt! Slow down!"

"We gotta get there as quickly as possible! It's already nighttime! C'mon, I'll win you a big stuffed wolf or something!"

Weiss rolled her eyes, but started walking faster anyway.

Glancing back, Ruby saw the small grin that she tried to hide.

* * *

"How am I supposed to carry this thing?!"

She had pulled the heiress around the pier, winning game after game as Weiss looked on. She had convinced her to get on a spinning death-trap, where the riders were locked into the inside of a wheel and spun at dizzying speeds. The heiress had screamed the entire time. She had even coerced the older girl her into eating a "disgustingly" greasy chicken dinner. Which, Weiss had later admitted, was the most delicious thing she'd had in years. But this. This was apparently too much.

Ruby looked at her over the top of a giant stuffed wolf, a white fluffy thing of massive proportions. "Well, I mean, I _can_ trade it in for a smaller one. But I did say I'd win you a big wolf, right?"

"That's not big," Weiss said, stamping her foot down and crossing her arms. "That's **enormous**. Get me a smaller one."

Ruby was crestfallen, but she put on a fake smile anyway as she turned to hand in the giant stuffed creature. Before she could though, she felt a small hand on her shoulder hold her back.

Weiss' voice seemed small and timid, a sudden change from a few seconds ago. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to make you sad. I'm just not good with this whole… girlfriend thing. You won it for me, so I'll keep it."

Ruby felt her spirits lift again. She smirked. "Eh, it's fine. Now that I think about it, this thing _is _a little big. Here, I'll get you this smaller one."

She handed the giant wolf back in to the game attendant, who exchanged it with a much smaller one, about the size of a football.

Eagerly, she held it out to Weiss, who muttered a "thank you" and tucked it under her arm.

The neon lights played on her white hair, making it appear as a kaleidoscope of colors. Ruby couldn't help but smile at the sight. "See, this is why we're so great together. We're like opposites, but we complement each other. Without me, you wouldn't have ever been so nice about asking, but without you, I wouldn't have realized that it was too big to carry."

The thought seemed to brighten the heiress' mood, and she smiled gently. "I see what you mean. You're like the yin to my yang."

Ruby grimaced. "You know, that saying doesn't really work when my sister is actually named Yang."

"I guess you're right," Weiss said after a short laugh. It was a high-pitched sound, but lilted and beautiful. Something Ruby decided she didn't get to hear often enough.

"You know you have a really pretty laugh too? I've gotta make you laugh more, just so I can hear it."

Weiss blushed and looked down. "Thanks," she said quietly.

It occurred to Ruby that her partner always seemed to accept compliments really strangely, almost as if she was embarrassed by them. She resolved to ask about it later, as soon as possible. Right now, further down the pier, there was a glowing green sign that said 'Cotton Candy' that was practically screaming her name.

"Be right back!" she shouted, then ran off towards the stand. Her sneakers thudded on the wooden boards of the pier as she ran. Fumbling with her wallet, she managed to pull out enough lien while also shouting "one please!" to the attendant. The admittedly handsome young man at the stand pocketed the money, grinning at her while the cotton candy spun on the wheel.

"Hey," he said. Belatedly, she noticed that his eyes were a dazzling green.

"Hi," she said back, courteously returning the smile.

"So what's a pretty girl like you doing out here by yourself?"

"Oh I'm not alone, my friend is just over there!" She pointed at Weiss.

"Who, that girl?"

"Yeap, Weiss Sc- Snow!"

He leaned forward on the stand. "Well, what I should've said is, why're you out here without a date?"

Ruby blushed. "Um, well because-"

He didn't give her time to answer. "Because I get off shift in 20. And if you want this cotton candy, there's an extra cost that's not on the menu."

"Um… what?"

"It really only applies to cute girls like yourself." He grinned. "A date." That grin told her that he actually expected the tactic to work.

"Um, thanks-but-no-thanks!" Before he could react, she darted forward and grabbed the cone, using her semblance to flash backwards a good fifty feet. She didn't look back, instead concentrating on searching the now-crowded pier for her girlfriend.

She turned her head to the right, jumping back when she found an irritated looking heiress tapping her foot not five feet from her.

"Um… hey?"

The older girl's voice was firm and harsh. "You, me, Ferris wheel." She pointed at the giant slowly-spinning wheel further down the pier. "_Now_."

* * *

Ruby was confused, to say the least. After roughly half an hour of waiting in line with Weiss, who had refused to say a word the entire time, they had finally been ushered into an open compartment.

Ruby stepped inside, sitting on the bench that faced the ocean. Weiss sat opposite her, facing the city of Vale. To say that she looked irritated would be an understatement. Her eyes were narrowed, her eyebrows arched, her arms crossed against her chest. Ruby withered under her glare, wondering exactly what she could have done to elicit such a reaction in the heiress.

The cabin was spacious compared to most; the Ferris wheel was nearly brand new, made of a strong yet light-weight composite alloy. The wheel itself was a reflective white, and the neon lights built into it twirled and spun in complex patterns, giving it a semblance of life. The interior of the cabin was a deep green, the seats cushioned and soft.

Weiss continued to glare at her as the doors slid closed, and the cabin lifted into the air. About halfway towards the top, it stopped, suspended out over the ocean. The last light of the day had vanished, but the ocean was still made visible by the lights that reflected off of it.

Finally, the girl in white shifted, uncrossing her legs and leaning forward. Ruby reflexively shrank back in response.

Weiss frowned. "Do you remember when Neptune hit on me a week ago, how jealous you got?"

Ruby nodded.

Weiss got up slowly, crossing the distance between herself and Ruby like a predator.

"Now," she whispered, placing her hands on the brunette's shoulders, "it's my turn to be jealous."

She sat down on Ruby's lap and straddled her, placing her hands on her cheeks and pulling her in for a deep kiss. Lips ground against lips, teeth bumped teeth. Their tongues touched, and she pulled hers back as Weiss forced her way into her mouth, claiming dominance and taking complete control of what she declared to be hers. Ruby decided she didn't mind one bit.

She moaned, grasping fistfuls of the back of Weiss' dress. She felt a steadily building heat in between her legs, but ignored it. She had decided that when Weiss wanted to take things that far, she would. She had waited a year to be with this girl; she could wait a little longer to be truly intimate with her.

The heiress broke the kiss, leaving a string of saliva between them and Ruby struggling for breath. She moved her lips lower, eventually finding the smooth skin of the brunette's neck. Stopping at a particular spot near Ruby's clavicle, she focused her attentions there. She suckled it, caressing the skin with her tongue and biting down, albeit gently, on the sensitive flesh.

The sensation was unlike anything she'd ever felt before, a strange combination of pain and pleasure that mingled together to heighten her perception of both. Even through the haze of sheer bliss that had fallen over her, she couldn't help but remember that it was Weiss that was doing these things to her. Weiss was straddling her in a dark Ferris wheel cabin, Weiss was sucking and biting at her neck, Weiss' body was the one pressed up so closely against hers that she could feel her erratic heartbeat. And that made it so much more special.

A few breathless moments later, the heiress drew back, blushing and looking down. She kept her hands on Ruby's overall-strapped shoulders, her chest heaving.

Ruby lifted her fingers to her neck, running them over the mark she felt there. She struggled to remember what it was called. A hickey? A love bite?

"Now," Weiss whispered. "Now everyone knows you belong to someone. Maybe they won't guess it's me, maybe they will. I don't particularly care."

Ruby looked up at her. The heiress' eyes were filled with a combination of embarrassment, devotion, and sheer want, almost lust.

She leaned forward, her lips tickling Ruby's ear. "_You're mine now." _

Ruby found she could only giggle in reply, and apparently the heiress misconstrued that as the brunette not taking her seriously.

"What's so funny dolt?"

"Nothing, nothing!" Ruby laughed. "It's just… you're soooo cute when you get like that." She licked her lips, struggling to put on what she hoped was a suitably serious face. "But you're right. I'm yours, and you're mine."

Weiss smiled, but then looked taken aback. "But I don't mean actual ownership or anything, I would never do that to you…"

Ruby smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, I know what you mean. And the feeling is _definitely_ mutual. Now c'mere, it's cuddle time."

She grasped Weiss by the waist, lifted her up and turned her around, giggling at the heiress' muffled squeal. Placing the white-haired girl on her lap, she leaned backwards so that Weiss could recline onto her, and they could both watch the view from outside.

The cabin was dark; Weiss a pale shadow in her arms.

The heiress shifted, settling into a comfortable position as she leaned back, her head resting on Ruby's chest. The brunette linked her arms around Weiss' waist, and the older girl rested her own hands on top of her partner's. It was a comfortable position, Ruby decided. She wished that she could stay like that forever, with Weiss becoming her entire world as they held each other close.

"So that guy at the cotton candy stand really made you that jealous?"

"Oh, like Neptune didn't do the same thing to you."

Ruby grinned. "Yeah, but I didn't kidnap you, take you to a dark room, and leave a hickey on your neck."

Weiss was silent.

"But I kinda wanted to though." Ruby added.

"Dunce."

Ruby decided on changing the subject, hoping to steer the conversation towards a question she had been waiting to ask the heiress all night. She was decidedly nervous about it, unsure of whether or not Weiss would accept her invitation. Even if the events of the last few minutes had somewhat alleviated her worries.

"So why do you think our auras… uh, intertwined?"

Weiss shrugged in her grasp. "I'm not really sure. Goodwitch said it's only possible between people who've formed an extraordinary bond. And I guess we've formed that bond."

Ruby hummed in agreement. "It's kinda cool, don't you think? Any time your aura is low, I can just give you some of mine!"

"True, but you have to remember to be careful. She did stress after all, just how dangerous the technique can be. If you died because you were just trying to save me…" Weiss cut off, as if unable to continue the sentence.

Ruby kissed the top of her head. "Weiss, if I had a one in one hundred chance of saving you by giving you my aura, I would do it. I wouldn't even have to think about it."

"Are… are you sure?" Weiss seemed timid.

"Completely," Ruby answered. "I'd give my life for you in a heartbeat."

"Just… don't."

"…What do you mean?"

Weiss sighed. "Neither of us are going to die for each other, because neither of us are going to let ourselves get stuck in that situation, okay? If we're smart, and careful, and we play things safe, we should be fine. Because if you died…" She cut off again.

Ruby squeezed her hand gently. "Hey, sshh. It's okay, I'm right here."

"I know that you dunce." Ruby thought she heard Weiss' voice crack with the last word.

She leaned her head to the side and laid a series of feather-light kisses on the heiress' cheek, then moved to the other side and repeated the process. Weiss grimaced and shifted, but made no move to stop Ruby.

She leaned back. Their cabin was over the ocean again, the lights reflecting from its pitch-black surface becoming distorted by the waves. They broke on the shore, the phantom ghost of that sound echoing in Ruby's mind. She wished she could hear them, but the compartment seemed sound-proof.

"So…" Ruby trailed off.

"So?"

"My birthday is in a month."

"I know that!" Weiss seemed indignant. "Did you really think I'd forget your birthday?"

"No, it's not that. Just… you know how I go on a trip that weekend, every year?"

Weiss nodded. "Yes. You never seemed to want to talk about where you went, so I didn't ask."

Ruby swallowed in apprehension. This was difficult for her to admit to anyone, even her girlfriend and partner.

"I… I go visit my mom's grave."

Weiss seemed taken aback. She was silent for a few seconds, but then leaned to the side and twisted her head so that she could grace Ruby's lips with a soft kiss. Leaning back, she whispered, "I'm sorry."

Ruby laughed, a nervous sound. "Nothing for you to be sorry for, I mean I never told you so how were you supposed to know? It's up in northern Vale, almost in the mountains. The journey takes almost a full day. I can't take an airship, none of them go out that far into the wilderness. I mean, I guess I could hire a private one for the trip but… it just wouldn't feel right," she decided.

Weiss squeezed her hand softly, and Ruby mentally braced herself, gathering her courage to ask the question she had been waiting all night to.

"Weiss?"

"Hmm?"

"Would you… would you like to come with me?"

Weiss whipped around, twisting in Ruby's lap and startling her. "Y-yes! Of course I'll go with you… is this why you seemed so nervous tonight?"

"You could tell?" Ruby asked sheepishly. It felt as though a great weight had been lifted from her chest, and now that Weiss had said yes, she couldn't remember why she had even been apprehensive in the first place. Of course Weiss would agree to come with her. If nothing else, after all, they were partners, and had each others backs no matter what.

"Of course I could tell, dunce. If you can't lie to me, why would you be able to hide your nervousness from me? I figured you would tell me sooner or later, so I didn't ask."

Ruby ran her hands up and down Weiss' bare arms, wondering at how soft and smooth they were. "Thanks."

Their cabin stopped at ground level. The door slid open. Weiss glared at the attendant. He glanced at Weiss. He glanced at Ruby. He glanced at the hickey on Ruby's neck. He shrugged and closed the doors.

"Well that settles that," Weiss said matter-of-factually.

Ruby giggled.

They relaxed, Ruby into the cushioned seat, and Weiss into Ruby. The moon chose that moment to begin its ascent into the night sky, and its ethereal glow cast streamers of silvery light across the surface of the ocean. They danced across its abyssal-black surface, following the motions of the waves.

Weiss sighed heavily. "I've never really told you, but I've always loved the ocean."

Ruby was silent, but squeezed her arms a little tighter around the heiress' waist in a silent signal for her to continue.

"My parents only took me to the beach once, when I was fourteen, but I was fascinated by how boundless and deep it seemed. It was full of possibilities, if you could escape onto it with a boat you could go _anywhere_. I guess, to me, it represented freedom, something I didn't, and haven't had until I came here, to Beacon."

"That's really cool," Ruby said. "I've heard lots of reasons why people like the ocean, but yours is definitely the best. One day, we'll go on a vacation there, once we've graduated, maybe even over the summer."

Weiss' voice dropped to a gentle whisper. "Ruby, you know I have to be at my parents' over the summer."

Ruby felt a pang of hurt stab her heart. She had known, but a small part of her had hoped that Weiss had found a way to stay with her, or even take her with her, as unlikely as that was. She knew it was selfish to put her wants and needs before Weiss' future as heiress, but she couldn't help what her heart truly wanted.

"Yeah, I know."

Weiss sighed.

Ruby continued, "But then we're just going to have to do it after we graduate."

"Ruby… I don't know if we'll even be together after that…"

She was having absolutely _none_ of that. "**No**. We will. I'll do whatever it takes, fight whoever I have to, even abandon my career as a huntress. You mean more to me than anything in the entire world Weiss, and I'll die before I let someone or something take you away from me."

The older girl bowed her head, and Ruby saw a single tear slide down her pale cheek. Her heart was pounding in her chest; her pulse raced. She couldn't stand to see Weiss like this, she had to say it, speak those crazy words that she had wanted to utter for so long but hadn't been able to…

Weiss' fragile form shuddered, and Ruby found herself absolutely overcome with raw emotion. Hurt, despair, love, compassion, hope, all of it mixed together and filled her heart to bursting.

Throat tight, chest constricting, she softly spoke those three words that she had held back for the past half a year. The words that she knew, deep down, to be true. She swung her heart across the line.

"Weiss… I love you…"

The heiress froze, then broke out in fitful sobs, turning and wrapping her arms around Ruby like she was her only lifeline in a raging storm. Her small frame shuddered violently as she cried, her plaintive wails filling the interior of the cabin.

Ruby felt Weiss bury her face in her shoulder, and clutch fistfuls of her shirt as she broke down completely.

At first she had been terrified, scared that Weiss' crying had meant that she was rejecting her declaration of love, but the way that she clung to her now put the lie to those thoughts.

So she wrapped her own arms around Weiss' shoulders, pulling her as close as possible and resting her chin on the top of the heiress' head. Still, the older girl sobbed. So Ruby did the only thing she could think of. She hummed the lullaby that her mom had taught her.

It took several minutes for Weiss to calm down. Several minutes that were almost more than Ruby could bear. She didn't like seeing her partner cry, in fact it tore at her heartstrings. But she was glad that it gave her an opportunity to hold her close and comfort her through the worst of it all. Weiss' hair was still in a double braid, so instead of stroking that, she settled for caressing the top of her head, whispering in her ear that "everything will be okay, I'm here, don't worry."

After a while, the white-haired girl's sobbing stopped. Not suddenly, but slowly, over time. Eventually, she raised her head and looked at Ruby with red, puffy eyes. In the back of her mind, the brunette realized that their cabin was at the top of the Ferris wheel.

Weiss' voice was little more than a hoarse croak. "Ruby…"

The younger girl gazed back at her.

"I…" The heiress took a deep breath, then tried again.

"I-I… I…" But then she buckled, breaking out in fresh sobs and clinging to Ruby.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed. "I'm s-sorry… I'm trying…"

Ruby understood. She understood that Weiss was trying to say those same three words. She understood that most likely, no one had ever uttered those words to her before, and she had probably never said them to anyone else in return. Telling someone that you love them is one of the hardest things you can ever do.

Three words. Three simple words. Yet carrying more impact than a hundred thousand lesser ones…

She squeezed Weiss as tightly as she possibly could, whispering in her ear, "I understand. You don't have to right now, I can wait. _It_ can wait. Sssshhh…"

The heiress' sobs subsided and before long she was still, but she kept her head buried where it had found its rest: in the crook of Ruby's neck.

The brunette half-heard, half-felt her mumbled words. "Thank you…"

Ruby smiled. "_Anything_ for you."

The moon, with a shining halo around it, re-appeared from where it been hidden behind a cloud, once more casting its silver-light across the surface of the sleeping ocean. Its corona was almost blinding.

She sighed in appreciation, wondering at how beautiful the ocean could be. _Beautiful like Weiss._ Her thoughts turning toward her distraught partner, she realized she still felt guilty about the events of earlier that day.

"Uh… sorry for… beating you up…"

Weiss giggled softly; apparently she was starting to feel better. Ruby resolved to pull her out of her melancholy. She liked happy Weiss.

Reaching over to the other bench, she picked up the stuffed wolf she had won earlier. Walking it up and down Weiss' legs, she deepened her voice in mimicry of what she hoped was a wolf's.

"Hey Weiss, look at me! I'm Mr. Fangs, the big grey wolf! Ruby won me for you, and now I'm going to be your bodyguard."

The heiress couldn't help herself; she broke out in laughter and lifted her head, wiping away the few tears that still stained her pale features. There it was, Ruby thought. The sound that she so adored.

"Hi Mr. Fangs. Thanks for protecting me, although I'm sure Ruby will do a good enough job." She looked up and gazed into the taller girl's eyes with a deep longing. "She's never let me down… and I sincerely doubt she ever will…"

Ruby, overwhelmed with affection, couldn't think of anything else to do. So she leaned forward and took Weiss' lips with her own in a soft kiss.

"_Mmm, cherry lip balm."_

She pulled back and gazed into her partner's cyan eyes, a hundred unspoken thoughts rushing between them.

"I mean it. I love you." Those words felt good; it felt good saying them. Like a release, after so long of holding them back.

Weiss rested her forehead against Ruby's. She couldn't yet bring herself to say it, much as she wanted to. Instead, she settled for a whispered, "I know."

Ruby smiled. She leaned backwards, pulling Weiss with her and giggling softly when the heiress nuzzled into the crook of her neck. It was such a warm and powerful sensation: being this close to her girlfriend. She thought her heart would burst from how full it felt, in the best way possible. Not for the first, and certainly not for the last time, she found herself contemplating just how lucky she had been in getting robbed at a small store in Vale, three years ago. If she hadn't impressed Headmaster Ozpin and moved up two years, then she never would have met Weiss. The thought sent a shiver down her spine.

No, she thought, Weiss was definitely here, with her. If nothing else, then the heiress' steady heart-beat against her chest proved it.

_Thump-thump._

"Weiiiissss…"

"What now, you dolt?"

Ruby grinned. "I can feel your heart-beat."

_Thump-thump. Thump-thump._

"Don't get used to it or anything…" Weiss grumbled.

_Thump-thump._ Weiss was there, with her. _Thump-thump._ Weiss was irrevocably, unequivocally alive. _Thump-thump. _They were together.

She pulled her just a little closer.

"Too late."

* * *

_**This is what happens when you stick me on an aircraft carrier for ten days with no internet. I'm not sorry.**_

_** Damn I'm proud of this chapter. Honestly, I almost cried WHILE writing it. Also, ship life is horrible. Being stuck in a big hot room with like 150 other marines who all have the attitudes of a high school bully and the morals of a degenerate sociopath really wears on me. **_

_**But enough about me. Got a few questions for you all. Honestly, was this chapter too long? Normally, I keep them at around 7k to 11k words, but this one was obviously longer, coming in at 15,000 words. Do you guys want them this long? Or shorter? I think smaller chapters might be easier to read for those of you who don't have tons of free time...  
**_

_**Also, what do you guys think of how I switch points of view? I enjoy writing Weiss' the most, but I have a lot of fun writing Ruby's too. Honestly, in the show she's got less character development than the side characters at this point, and I aim to fix that.**_

_**I've got a lot of plans for Ruby, and Weiss too. I'd say there are probably 3, maybe 4 chapters left in this story. But that doesn't mean I'll be done writing Whiterose, haha, no. I've got like 10 different one-shot AU ideas swirling around in my head, and then of course the fic about the Grimm Lord, which I can't stop thinking about, and I've finally found a title: The Call of the Void. **_

_**I really hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I did writing it.** _


	7. In Memoriam - Into Memory

**"I'm sorry I thought this show was called RWBY not "The Adventures of Jaune and Neptune's Girl Conquests and Character Shilling. Silly me" - Weissgrip**

* * *

She woke up. Not suddenly, not with a jolt, not with a jerk or a scream or a gasp. She felt her arms. No sweat. Strange.

She lay back, letting loose a deep sigh. Two days. Two days until she left with Weiss, to visit the grave of her mother. It weighed heavily on her mind.

She tried to move her right arm, to check if Weiss was still with her or not. She knew that she was, but a small voice in her head whispered that she was gone, that she was never coming back, just like Summer. She shut the voice up with a snarl and tried to move her arm again.

She couldn't.

Looking down, she realized that a strange mass covered in white hair was laying where her right arm ought to be. She flexed the arm again, this time receiving a small tingling sensation.

_"Durr, it's numb. Maybe she's right,"_ Ruby thought with a smile. _"Maybe I am just a giant dolt."_

She leaned back, adjusting her head so that it fit perfectly into the Ruby-head-shaped depression she had formed over the years. Glancing again at the sleeping form of her girlfriend, she decided that something had to be done about her. The girl was almost in a fetal position, her pale form curled around Ruby's right arm.

It was cute, Ruby decided, but it also looked uncomfortable.

Moving as carefully as possible, she began un-tangling her wayward heiress.

"Mmm..." Weiss shifted in her sleep, and Ruby froze as she felt the heiress wrap her thin arms around her hand. A Weiss woken from sleep at a premature hour was a grumpy Weiss. And that wasn't something she wanted to deal with right now.

Ruby tried to pull her hand away. Weiss held on tight. She grimaced. She tried again. Again, Weiss refused to let her hand go.

_"Well... this calls for a different strategy then..."_

Using her other hand, she began prying Weiss' fingers off, one by one. Carefully. Ever so carefully.

"Dolt."

She froze. Was she just hearing things? She desperately hoped so.

Lifting her head ever so slightly, she peeked over the tangle of limbs that was Weiss, only to be met with two piercing blue orbs.

"Oh... heh heh... you're awake?"

"Obviously," came the disgruntled reply. "Is there a particular reason you woke me?" As she spoke, the white-haired girl straightened out, laying her body alongside Ruby's. She wrapped her arms around the brunette's waist and pulled her as close as was humanly possible.

There was a faint stirring in the back of her mind, a familiar feeling that she now recognized as Weiss' aura reacting to, and mingling with her own. It never failed to bring a smile to her face. It felt like acceptance, in its purest, rawest form. It felt like life, new life, with infinite possibilities and the chance of a happy ending. Fairy-tale fantasy, she knew, but she had been raised on such tales. It was fitting.

"Ruby."

"Uh, wha?"

Weiss sighed. "I asked if there was a reason you woke me."

"Oh, not really. I mean, I had this really weird dream..."

Weiss was silent in response, and she took that as a signal to continue. The heiress was always very vocal with her opinions; if she wanted you to shut up, she would say so.

"There was this big ship, and it was sinking or something. I just remember lots of water and stuff. There was this guy, and he looked really sad about it. I think he was going down with the ship. And then _that_ led into _another _dream... but..."

"But what?"

"I don't know. I didn't like this one at all. It's kind of stupid too."

"Ruby, you keep telling me that I can tell you anything. So obviously, the same applies to you as well. There's nothing you can't talk to me about." She lowered her voice to a faint whisper. "You're always there for me... and I want to be there for you too."

That strange, familiar warmth filled her heart and rushed through her veins as Weiss spoke. She was used to it by now, but somehow she never got tired of it. It never got any less powerful, any less fulfilling.

"Alright. Well... so there was a dance at Beacon. I don't really know why, I mean it's a combat school for Hunters, not a high school... but anyway, so there was a dance. And... well, you asked Neptune to go with you."

She felt Weiss stiffen, tighten her grip around her waist. "I did _what_?"

"Yeah... and he didn't say yes at first, but you two kind of... ended up dancing together anyway."

Weiss let out a long, slow breath. "Well... who did you go with?"

She paused. "I uh... I kind of went by myself."

Weiss didn't answer. Not verbally, at least. She rolled to the side, on top of Ruby, and began kissing her, slow and lazy.

Minutes melted away. Ruby lost track of whose moans were whose.

Eventually, Weiss pulled away, but stayed on top of Ruby's chest. She rested her elbows on the sides of the taller girl's head, their faces parted by mere inches.

"Ruby."

"Um... yes?"

"_If_ there was a dance, and _if_ there was the opportunity to go with you, I would never be able to do otherwise. _Especially_ not with that womanizing scum."

Ruby giggled. "Yeah, he is pretty bad. I don't get what people see in him."

"Well I mean," Weiss was hesitant. "He is... sort of attractive. In a very shallow way. I mean, he thinks blazers and goggles are the epitome of fashion."

"You think he's cute?"

"Only objectively," Weiss rushed to say. "You're much more beautiful, inside _and_ out."

Ruby smiled. She couldn't really think of anything else to do. Oh, kissing. There was that too. She closed the gap between their lips only for a short second, but desperately imparted the kiss with every ounce of love and appreciation she felt for her beautiful girlfriend.

Weiss smirked, then lowered herself down, wrapping her arms around Ruby's shoulders and resting her head beside the brunette's. The soft fabric of her nightgown tickled Ruby's bare arms, and the space where her tank-top left her neck exposed.

She sighed, wondering at how impossibly easy it was for the heiress to dispel all her worries and fears.

_"If only I had told you sooner, Weiss, how I really felt. At least I have you now."_

She rubbed slow circles into the smaller girl's back. She pressed her face into Weiss' ivory hair, inhaling deeply the scent of alpine wildflowers. She sighed.

"I love you," she whispered to no one in particular. For the heiress was already asleep.

She could tell by her slow, relaxed breathing. She could tell by the way Weiss' arms didn't tighten or loosen around her shoulders, but simply maintained an inexorable grip. She could tell by the way the smaller girl failed to react as she kissed her cheek.

_Thump-thump._

And she could tell by her heart-beat.

* * *

**_Here lies Whiterose_**

**_November 7th, 2012 - September 11th, 2014_**

**_Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine!_**

**_Et lux perpetua luceat eis._**

* * *

**No, this done not mean I'm done writing. This is simply a memorial to my OTP, and a small balm to help soothe the troubled souls of fellow shippers of Whiterose. For those of you as upset and disappointed with these developments as I am, this is for you.  
**

**In no way am I down-playing the far more important events of September 11th, 2001. I remember that day. It's one of the reasons I joined the Marine Corps. **

**For all those who have come before me, and will come after, thank you for your service. **


	8. Chapter 6 - Snowfall

_**I watch you like a hawk  
I watch you like I'm gonna tear you limb from limb  
Will the hunger ever stop?  
Can we simply starve this sin?**_

_**That little kiss you stole**_  
_**It held my heart and soul**_  
_**And like a ghost in the silence, I disappear**_  
_**Don't try to fight the storm**_  
_**You'll tumble overboard**_  
_**Tides will bring me back to you**_

_**And on my deathbed, all I'll see is you**_  
_**The life may leave my lungs**_  
_**But my heart will stay with you**_

_**The waves will pull us under  
But tides will bring me back to you **_

* * *

Ruby had eyes like a car crash.

She knew she shouldn't look. She knew she would get drawn in, trapped, caged by them. Staring into them felt like falling down from empty space, vertigo overtaking her, into a silver ocean of pure mercury. Beautiful, flowing, terrible mercury.

Like a car crash. She knew she shouldn't look. But she couldn't turn away.

"Weiss?"

Startled, she realized where she was, whose bed she was laying in, _who_ she was laying next to. She felt the blood rush to her cheeks, which always happened when Ruby caught her staring at her.

It was early morning on a Friday, and warm sunlight filtered in from the drawn curtains, filling the air with a strange sense of contentment and peace. They didn't have any classes until later that day; third and fourth year students had a less demanding schedule.

They left that night, she remembered, for a hotel in Vale, the city. That way they could leave in the early morning the next day, since the airships from Beacon to the city didn't start running until almost noon. From there, they would hike east, until they reached the site of Summer Rose's grave. She wasn't quite sure how to feel about that. She was happy that her partner had asked her to go, but at the same time she was hesitant about it. She didn't like seeing Ruby sad. She felt Ruby didn't deserve to feel sad. No one that inherently kind deserved anything other than happiness and love in their life.

Lost in contemplation, she didn't notice the taller girl lying next to her slowly raise her hand. Grinning, Ruby gently flicked her on the forehead. "Caught you staring."

She snarled and caught Ruby's wrist before she could pull it away. "You don't get to flick me! I'm the only that can do that!"

The brunette stuck out her tongue. "I do what I want," she teased.

Weiss felt hot anger flow through her veins. Ruby would _not_ soil her name and her reputation. "You are _my_ girlfriend, and you do _not_ get to do whatever you want. Now put your tongue back in your mouth, before I do something to it."

Ruby smirked, tilting her head slightly. "Oooh, I don't know if I quite like the sound of that Ms. Schnee. I know an upstanding heiress like yourself wouldn't **ever** do anything so... lewd."

She knew she was blushing. Again. At this point, she didn't care. As tempting as Ruby's suggestion was, she would never let her win one of these verbal sparring matches, these battles of willpower and determination. "You're right. I _wouldn't_. No kiss for you."

Ruby immediately looked crestfallen, lowering her head and sticking out her bottom lip.

_"Hah, __**that**__ shut her down quick," _Weiss thought. _"And that puppy dog look won't work on me this time..."_

Or so she thought. She tried, she really did. But Ruby looked so irresistibly defeated, so hopelessly forlorn, and she couldn't bear to leave her girlfriend and partner in such a state.

She huffed. She leaned forward. And planted a quick, _very quick_, kiss upon those warm, soft lips.

When she opened her eyes, she saw Ruby's grin, ear to ear, so honest and warm that it made her heart melt.

She sighed, wondering when she had fallen so completely for this foolish, crazy, clumsy, wonderful, girl in front of her. She was a living contradiction, a combination of all sorts of attributes that shouldn't exist in one person, but did. Ruby was so unique it was baffling.

Ruby kept smiling at her, while she took Weiss' hand and began stroking the back of it with her thumb.

"I love your eyes."

Weiss shook her head in exasperation, mainly so that the other girl wouldn't see the even-present blush on her face. She tried to refute the compliment, brush it off, change the subject. But all that came out was: "T-thanks... I guess..."

Ruby squeezed her hand, and something stirred in her breast: a now-familiar feeling that made her want to do nothing but spend all the time in the world with the girl. She knew what it was, as much as she didn't want to admit it.

Love.

That feeling was love.

And that scared her. Being in love... complicated... the future. Made it much harder to just go back to her family and get married off. It was supposed to be easy. This was only supposed to be a break from all of that. She wasn't supposed to fall in _love_.

Ruby reached out and brushed her bangs aside. "Sorry, I just wanted to see your eyes better. Hey, that's actually something I wanted to ask you earlier."

She lifted her head to look at Ruby. "What is it?"

The brunette turned sheepish. "Uh... well, it's kind of dumb, but why do you always get so, I don't know, nervous? When I compliment you? I mean them all, I really do. I'm not lying or anything..."

Weiss lowered her head, hiding her face. Her words came out as a mumble. "I know. I know you're not lying."

"So then..."

She lifted her head, fixing Ruby with a level stare. "That's why it's so hard to accept them. Because I know you're not lying. They're honest compliments; you really mean them, I can tell."

Ruby looked perplexed. "But why does that embarrass you then?"

Weiss rolled over on her back. She stared at the ceiling. White. Bland. No painted star-field, like she wanted. Yet.

"You see, my whole life," she began, gesturing in the air as she spoke, "people have always wanted... things from me."

She felt rather than saw the brunette roll over and join her, felt her body press up against her own. Felt a pair of strong arms encircle her waist and hold her, almost possessively.

"They always wanted something because of who I was. Some wanted the influence that would come with getting closer to the Schnees, and they saw me as the perfect way in. The sweet little heiress," she mocked, "that's just not smart enough to realize when she's being played." She almost spat. "They disgusted me. I've received a _lot_ of compliments in my life."

She laid her hands over Ruby's, in what she hoped was a sign of solidarity.

"But never honest ones. Never from people who really mean what they're saying, people who can see who I really am, who I really want to be. So thank you."

She could hear Ruby's grin in her tone of voice. "Geez, don't thank me. It's not like I have to make an effort or anything when I do it. It's super easy to tell you how pretty you are, or how beautiful your hair is, or how much I love it when you do that little scoffing thing."

She scoffed, then realized her mistake.

"See! That one," Ruby giggled. "The only hard thing was holding them all in for so long. Now that I can do it as much as I want, it's almost addicting. I _really_ like making you feel good."

She felt her heart beat faster. Everything Ruby did, her intentions, the way she spoke, it was all just so pure and honest. She felt as if she didn't deserve it, but at the same time, she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. If Ruby wanted to be with her, then she would be. It helped that she wanted to be with the brunette just as much.

"So you mentioned that some people wanted to get more powerful by being friends with you?" She felt Ruby stiffen as if she had done something wrong, then hurry to explain: "I mean if you don't want to talk more that's cool, but I like hearing about your home and all. It's, interesting I guess."

"_Friends_ is a nice word for it. And I know you didn't mean anything by it, so if you really want me to, I'll tell you more." She sighed. "Yes, some people wanted to get close to me, because they figured that getting close to me, meant getting close to my parents."

She took a deep breath, then continued. "Others wanted to win my favor for _different_ reasons. I'm not ugly, physically. Far from it, and I know it. I've had plenty of heirs try to win my affections. And by that I mean sleep with me." She felt Ruby tighten her hold on her. "It got old. That's the reason I came to Beacon really, to just get away from it all. To live my own life, even for only four years. I know that once I go back, they're going to try and marry me off. I barely managed to convince them to let me go anyway."

She scoffed. "I told them that being a Hunter would make me more appealing as a wife. A _trophy_ wife, more like."

Ruby squeezed her midsection. When she spoke, she sounded nervous, almost lonely. "Are you gonna do it?"

"Do what?"

"You know... go back and get married to someone?"

She froze up. To her surprise, it occurred to her that she hadn't given it much thought. She was avoiding it, she realized. Contemplation of the future, in which she would be forced to leave Ruby behind, filled her with nothing but self-loathing and pain.

"I... I don't know."

She knew the subject had come up earlier, almost a month ago while they were in a Ferris wheel together. But that had been the long and short of it. She had voiced her fears, and Ruby had told her that she loved her. Which still felt indescribably overpowering, every time she thought of it and every time she heard her partner say it.

No matter what she was feeling at the time, no matter how nervous or sad or angry she felt, hearing those three words from the girl lying next to her made her heart seize up in this wonderful way. She never wanted the feeling to stop, never wanted to be apart from her, never wanted to live in a world where she couldn't wake up and hear those words from the girl lying next to her, from Ruby.

"Well I for one, am not letting you go," Ruby stated. "I've told you a dozen times now, although uh, you've been asleep for most of them. But, I am not." She felt Ruby kiss her cheek. "Letting you go. Ever."

Choosing not to speak, she simply rolled onto her side and nuzzled into the crook of her girlfriend's neck.

Hearing Ruby say that had filled her heart with this strange feeling. One part embarrassment, one part admiration, two parts happiness, and one part... hope?

_"Is this hope?"_ she wondered. She had never believed in it, never trusted in it. Hope was for fools, for people who didn't prepare for and expect the worst.

But as the strange feeling swelled in her, she realized that it was, indeed, _hope_.

Hope that she and Ruby could somehow, impossibly, be together after graduation.

Ruby rubbed her back in smooth, slow circles. She felt a warm smile grow on her face, one that she would have been powerless to stop, if she had wanted to.

"I'm not letting you go," the brunette whispered. "Not now, not ever."

* * *

_"Oh crap."_ She froze, unable to control her body. _"She's __**hot**__."_

The girl in reference was currently horizontal, grasping a metal pole with both hands and holding herself sideways a few feet off of the ground, with nothing more than raw arm and core strength. She was muscled like a panther.

A human flagpole, Weiss dimly remembered. That's what that exercise was called.

_"Why does she have to be hot, on top of everything else?" _A slight whimper escaped her. _"This just isn't fair..."_

Grunting, her arm and back muscles flexing, Ruby lifted her legs until they were above almost vertical, while her upper body remained horizontal.

Weiss could see the sweat practically dripping off of the taller girl's body, see it pooling and running in rivulets through the channels created by her defined musculature. She let herself slump sideways against the doorframe of one of the many private exercise rooms in the gym, unable to do anything but watch Ruby. She had just finished running, and was on her way to the women's locker room to change. Until, of course, she had been ambushed by... _this_.

As she watched, the brunette, who was wearing a tight black shirt and a pair of matching _yoga pants_, of all things, brought her legs out perpendicular to her body, in a sort of horizontal, hanging leg-up.

Weiss could see the fabric tighten around her body. She could see the way her biceps and shoulder muscles quivered from the strain. She could see the way her back muscles flexed and shifted.

She almost felt faint. And even worse, there was a growing warmth, spreading from between her legs to the rest of her body. The need she felt was visceral and raw, powerful and primal in its urgency.

She needed to look away. She needed to look at anything but Ruby.

No, what she _needed_ to do was drop her towel, stride into the room, pin Ruby's arms above her head and just let herself lose control.

It was such a strange thing, physically _wanting_ someone this badly. She had never experienced anything quite like it before. Maybe she only felt this way because of her feelings for Ruby. Or maybe, objectively, she actually found Ruby, well, _sexy_. Judging from the sweat gathering on her brow, she decided it was most likely the latter.

The thought satisfied her though, filled her with contentment. She _should_ find her girlfriend attractive, she _should_ want her. It felt right. It meant that, just maybe, she was capable of having a healthy relationship with her partner.

But as much as she desired Ruby right then, she knew that she should wait. The other girl was only eighteen, after all. Technically of legal age but...

And then there was the issue of Yang...

_"Ugh, why does this have to be so complicated? Although, it wouldn't feel the same if it was easy, I surmise. One day, I'll have her. And hopefully sooner rather than later..."_

It had to be perfect: her first time. She wouldn't allow it to be anything but. She had heard that it never was, that the first time was usually clumsy and awkward, but she didn't care. She would try anyway, if it meant fully being with Ruby, in body as well as soul.

_"I mean, our auras are already one, it only figures that our bodies should be too... Ugh, Ruby's body... those abs..." _She shuddered.

Then froze.

Had Ruby just... winked at her?

Yes, she had. The brunette was still holding herself horizontal, but she craned her neck to look at her white-haired girlfriend.

"How long have you been standing there?"

She felt the blood rush to her cheeks. "Uh... not long?"

Ruby smirked. "I was just joking when I asked. I felt you the moment you got close. Our auras, remember?"

She found the floor far more bearable to look at than Ruby's knowing grin. "Oh... right. Are you done?"

"I am now. I just wanted to give you a good show."

Was Ruby... doing all that on purpose? She whipped her head up, a lecture on the tip of her tongue, but the brunette was already gone, a whirling trail of rose petals in her wake.

"Ruby! Get back here this instant you dolt!"

A voice echoed through the hall back towards her. "Gotta catch me first!"

She sighed, and caught one of the petals before it could fall to the floor. She held it in her palm, wondering at the uniqueness and purpose of this one single petal, when Ruby could simply conjure them up from thin air. What separated it from all the others? What made this one petal special? Why did she catch this one, while all the others laid on the floor?

Maybe there wasn't a good answer. But, she decided, it was because she _chose_ to catch this one. Because she made the conscious decision to reach out her hand, and take this one petal in her pale fingers.

Just as she had decided to take Ruby. In the end, no matter how she felt, she had made the _choice_ to date Ruby. Even after the kiss that she stole on that hilltop, she could have severed her ties to the girl and left the school. Knowing her parents, it would have been easy.

But she hadn't. She had decided to keep Ruby in her heart. And Ruby wasn't just a rose petal. Ruby truly was unique.

She rubbed her thumb over the petal, smiling at how smooth and silk-like it felt.

"You dolt," she whispered.

* * *

There was something to be said about a forest in wintertime. Whether it was how the leaves abandoned the trees, leaving them stark and naked in the cold, or how the snow piled up in little mounds over the shrubs that survived. How even through the biting frost, a few of them yet remained, clinging to their parent trees with a tenacity and determination that was hard to find in the cold.

Even in the bitter chill, life found a way to survive.

It was, Ruby decided, hauntingly beautiful.

The only sound was the crunching of their footsteps, as their boots carried them on their seemingly endless march through the snow-clad landscape. The path wasn't an easy one either. They had crossed rivers of frozen ice, navigated down treacherous ravines, even crossed dangerous-looking chasms on fallen logs. Even in the winter clothes they had worn, the chill in the air was evident.

Ruby thought it was so much fun, doing all these things that she had imagined while growing up, playing in the woods surrounding her house. To her, it was an adventure.

To Weiss, it was decidedly _not_. She refrained from her usual grumbling and complaining, for reasons unknown to her, but she could see it in the older girls eyes. She was definitely unhappy.

"Geez Weiss, why do you look so disgruntled?"

The heiress freed her boot from a particularly deep patch of snow, muttering something under her breath as she did so. "Wait, where did you learn such a big word?" she asked.

"Uh, from you. And you just avoided my question."

Weiss brushed off her head, dislodging the snowfall that had gathered on it. "Well maybe I don't want to answer it."

_"You're gonna have to try harder than that Weiss."_ She smirked. "Well why not?"

"Maybe I don't want to hurt your feelings? Ever considered that?"

Wait, why would Weiss hurt her feelings if she complained? That didn't really make any sense; it was something she did most of the time anyway. "Why... why would it hurt my feelings if you spoke your mind?"

The girl with the white hair, who had strode off ahead of her, spun around. Her cheeks were red from the chill, and it made it hard to take her serious. "Because, you dolt, I'm _cold_, I'm _hungry_, I'm _tired_, we've been wandering around this forest for the better part of _half a day_, and we're apparently still not _anywhere near_ our destination!"

She shrugged. "Well alright. But I don't see how you're gonna hurt my feelings by saying any of that. It's not the first time I've heard you bitch about stuff."

Weiss' eyebrows flared, and she walked up to Ruby and jabbed her in the stomach with her finger. "Why you little..."

But then Weiss let the finger drop, her arm falling to her side as she gazed down at the ground.

Frowning in puzzlement, she gently grasped Weiss' chin with her hand and lifted her head, forcing their eyes to meet. "Hey now, what's wrong princess?"

Weiss spoke, soft and low. "You didn't give me a chance to finish... what I meant to say was, I didn't want to tell you that I was cold, and tired, and hungry. Because you invited me here, to come with you to your mother's grave. No one has ever asked me to do anything like this before, something that obviously means so much to them. And as much as I hate it out here, I don't want to ruin whatever fun you're managing to have. It wouldn't be right of me."

Weiss looked up as she finished, but her expression turned to one of surprise as she saw the smile Ruby was wearing. "R-Ruby? Why-"

Ruby leaned forward and kissed her. She seemed surprised at first, but quickly fell forward into the taller girls arms.

Weiss' lips were cold. They tasted like the chocolate from the trail mix they had brought.

She placed a hand behind the heiress' head, cradling it, and wrapped the other arm around her waist.

She wanted more. Desperately wanted more of this stuck-up, snobby bitch of a girl with a secret heart of gold.

She probed her tongue at Weiss' lips, moaning softly when they parted for her. She heard a quick intake of breath as she made sweeping, swirling motions inside Weiss' mouth, squeezing her body closer as she did so. It felt so wrong, and yet so right at the same time. So _intimate_.

They continued that way for several minutes, until a rumbling noise sounded from Weiss' stomach. The older girl broke off with, leaving a trail of saliva hanging in the air. Her face was beet red, and her breathing was heavy and irregular. She stared at the ground.

Ruby smiled. "Hungry?"

The heiress nodded, still refusing to meet her eyes.

"Good thing I made these sandwiches then. But let's find a good spot to eat first. C'mon."

She took Weiss' hand, finding it just as cold as her lips had been. But she felt the beginnings of warmth, as her hand warmed the heiress' own.

* * *

A few minutes down the path they found a fallen, moss-covered log, and decided to eat their lunch atop it.

Ruby swung her legs back and forth as she rummaged through her pack, searching through the various tools and pieces of gear she had brought for their lunch.

Shooting a glance to the right, she saw that Weiss was sitting quietly, her hands in her lap as she stared off into the woods.

"You okay?"

Weiss turned and looked at her, almost as if she'd forgotten that she wasn't alone. "Hmm?"

"You just looked all broody. Everything all right?"

"I feel like I should be asking you that question. We're not about to visit _my_ mother's grave, as much as I wish our situations were reversed."

She smiled. "Oh come on Weiss, you don't _really_ wish your mom was dead."

There was an inscrutable look in the heiress' eyes as she replied. "You don't know her like I do. I wouldn't shed a single tear if she passed away tonight."

She finally located the container that held their lunches, grinning as she pulled it out and popped it open. "I don't know. I still think you'd feel sad about it, even if it took a couple years."

Weiss gratefully accepted her sandwich. She took a bite and chewed, looking off into the distance, at the pale wasteland of the forest. "Tell you what Ruby. When... if you ever meet her yourself, find me again. And then tell me if you still feel the same."

Ruby smiled inwardly, refusing to let her happy mood be brought down by Weiss' talk of the unhappy future. "We'll see about that. How's your sandwich?"

The heiress looked annoyed by the subject change, but she didn't vocalize it. "It's good. Thanks for making these."

"I used to have to make 'em all the time, back when I went to school. Yang and I couldn't really afford to eat lunch at the cafeteria all the time."

The heiress sighed. "It must really suck..."

She took another bite of her sandwich, chewing as she spoke. "What musht shuck?"

Weiss grinned. "Being poor."

"Hey-hurk!" She choked, then swallowed and tried again. "Hey! You don't get to make poor jokes about me!"

"Well why not?" Weiss laughed. "You make rich jokes about me all the time."

"Because... because..." Ruby sputtered, trying and failing to come up with a reason as to why she should be allowed to tease Weiss for her upbringing, and the heiress shouldn't be able to do the same. Of course, she failed miserably. "Urgh, you suck." She stuck out her tongue at the older girl.

Weiss only smirked in response. "No, being poor sucks. I myself, happen to be a contributing, upstanding member of society with the potential to lead the world into a golden age of energy production. I _most certainly_ do not suck."

"You're right," she shot back with a grin. "You don't suck. Because you're a _lesbian_."

"Ruby!" She attempted to smack the brunette's sandwich out of her hand, but only succeeded in missing, overextending, and tumbling off of the log with a squeal to land in a pile of snow.

In a fit of uncontrollable laughter, Ruby fell off of the log too, landing on top of Weiss as she struggled to rise.

"G-get off me dolt!"

Still laughing, she managed to crawl off of the smaller girl and stand up, offering a hand to Weiss afterwards.

The heiress was covered in snow: it had gone down her coat, in her sleeves, all over her hair. Her expression was furious as she ignored Ruby's hand and stood on her own.

Ruby's laughter died down. "Oh come on Weiss. It was just a joke? Don't be mad?"

The heiress crossed her arms against her chest. "I'm not mad at the joke, _dunce_, I'm mad because now I've got snow in my coat, and it's killing what little body heat I had left."

She could see that Weiss was starting to shiver, and realized that her crossed arms weren't so much to show annoyance as they were to try and keep herself warm. Glancing down at the sandwiches, she saw that they were half-buried in snow.

"Well..." Ruby muttered. "We didn't get to finish lunch anyway, and we have time to spare. So I'll make a fire!"

"That's a stupid idea," Weiss grumbled.

Already putting her plan into action, Ruby started collecting what firewood she could. "Why is it stupid?"

"It j-just is."

"See, look, you're just being difficult. It'll warm you up, and we can dry your clothes too."

"Well then what do I wear while they're drying? Do you ever stop and think ahead?"

"You're being difficult~" Ruby sang.

A short while later the fire was up, started by a reluctant Weiss and a pinch of burn dust.

The heiress took off her winter coat and shook the snow out of it, then hung it on a tree branch that was near the flame. She took her hair out of its ponytail and shook it out as well, running her fingers through the snow-white locks to dislodge the snow in them.

Afterwards she stood there, shivering in the cold, with only a white t-shirt between her and the elements.

"Now what Ruby? What comes next in your brilliant plan?"

She stood up and took off her own coat, hanging it next to Weiss' while the heiress looked on in confusion. Unlike Weiss, instead of just a shirt underneath the coat, Ruby was wearing a sweater. A very large, warm, red sweater, made of knitted cotton.

Grinning, she walked up to Weiss, grasped the bottom of her sweater, and promptly pulled it up and over the heiress' head.

"Ruby!" came the muffled squeal.

Giggling, she plopped down in front of the fire, just as Weiss managed to wiggle her head out of the top. "See? You're so small, we can both fit in the same sweater!"

Grumbling, the older girl adjusted herself, shifting around so that she was in front of Ruby. The brunette slid her arms out of the sleeves and into the sweater, then wrapped them around the heiress' waist. She hummed in contentment.

"I can't believe this," Weiss groaned. "Are you even wearing a bra under this?"

"Dur, of course I am," Ruby said. She placed her mouth right by Weiss' ear, dropping her voice to a whisper. "But would you really mind if I wasn't?"

There was no response, but she couldn't contain her laughter as she watched the older girl's cheeks heat up, even more so than they already were. "You're so easy to tease..."

"And you're so easy to not bake cookies for for the next year." Weiss shot back.

"You wouldn't!"

"I would, and you know it."

Ruby lowered her head, pressing her temple into Weiss' now-loose hair. "Okay, fine, I'll stop..."

"That's what I thought."

"For now," Ruby whispered.

"I heard that."

She smiled, taking a deep breath to inhale the scent of the girl pressed up to her chest. A comfortable silence fell between them. The only noise was the crackling fire, and the wind faintly howling through the trees.

The feel of Weiss' body against her own was intoxicating, a warm and heady sensation, as warm as it was inside the sweater. Thankfully, the heiress had stopped shivering a while ago. She leaned backwards against Ruby, sighing in contentment.

"You're not really that great of an Ice Queen, you know. You don't take the cold too well."

"Just because I live in Atlas doesn't mean I enjoy the cold Ruby. In fact, now that I've experienced warmer temperatures and climates, I don't really want to go back."

Ruby hummed, a sound of understanding.

This time, Weiss broke the silence. "So exactly how much farther is it?"

"Only a few hours. We'll be there just before sunset."

"How can you tell?"

She squeezed the heiress' waist. "Well I mean, I make this trip every year. I know the route by heart."

"Ah."

Ruby continued, unbidden. "It's on a clifftop overlooking this huge river, surrounded by a forest. There's this clearing a ways back into the woods, the spot where she actually died." She felt Weiss stiffen slightly. "For some reason beowolves still come to that spot. I don't know if they remember what happened, but it's almost like it's some kind of sacred spot to them. Every few years I have to fight a pack of them that think they can take me."

"When was the last time you had to fight some?"

"Um... three years ago? Right before I joined Beacon, I remember. I kind of hope we run into some. They can barely deal with, I can't wait to see what happens with you here too."

"You _want_ to fight those things?"

Ruby's tone turned serious, as she felt her anger build at the thought of the creatures that had taken her mother from her, as well as stolen the lives of countless people throughout the years. People who still had lives to live, dreams to chase. People who hadn't deserved to die. "Yes. I want to fight them. Everywhere I find them. Everywhere they keep people from the living the lives they should."

"That's... admirable, I suppose. But do you think we should get going soon?"

She recognized that Weiss had just changed the subject on purpose, but it didn't bother her. It the heiress wanted to know more, she would ask.

"Hmm... not yet." She nuzzled her nose into Weiss' neck, giggling as the other girl shuddered. "Just a few more minutes."

* * *

**_I really have to apologize for this chapter. It's only half of what I wanted to write, I still had three or four scenes planned. Plus, the ending scene was one of two that I've been wanting to write since the beginning of this story. _**

**_But the Marine Corps, in it's infinite wisdom, decided to send me back on a ship three days earlier than everyone else, with half a days notice. _**

**_So once again, sorry for the length of this chapter, and if it felt unpolished and some of it doesn't make sense, it's because I didn't spend nearly as much time editing it as I would have liked to. But I leave in the morning, and I need to get some sleep._**

**_I'll be on ship for about a month and a half this time, so this story won't update till then, sorry. I actually had more written, but that would have left this on a cliffhanger, and I don't want to do that. But after this month and a half, I'll have multiple chapters for you all._**

**_For what it's worth, I hope you enjoyed it._ **


	9. Chapter 7 - Abenddämmerung

They walked along the path, if it could be called that, for several hours more, until up ahead, the forest gave way to a large clearing.

The trees were low-hanging and dark, their limbs frosted and glistening in the fading light of the sun. Something about them seemed menacing.

They stopped at the edge of the clearing.

"Hey Weiss, could you reach in my pack and get my cloak out?"

"I suppose. Why haven't you been wearing it?" Weiss asked, as she reached over and unzipped Ruby's pack.

The brunette bent down to allow the shorter girl better access to her backpack. "Well, it kind of draws attention in a forest where everything is white. I used to wear it everywhere when I was younger, but I was pretty naive then too."

"Pretty naive?" Weiss mocked. "Ruby, you had the tactical sense of a half-dead hippo."

She frowned. "Hippos don't have tactical sense in the first place."

"Exactly," Weiss finished, as she pulled the red cloak out from Ruby's pack. The brunette turned and held out her hand, but Weiss shook her head. "Let me do it."

She grinned. "Alrighty then." Bending her head, she let Weiss reach up and wrap the cloak around her, then pin it in place. The heiress wore an expression of grim determination all the while.

Ruby smiled. "Heh, cute."

"What is?" Weiss asked.

"You. I've never seen anyone look so concentrated putting a cloak on."

Weiss stood back and examined her work. "Well if you're going to wear a bright red cloak, and if you're going to be _my_ girlfriend, then it better look good."

"Cute," Ruby whispered again.

"What was that?"

She grinned knowingly. "Nothing, let's go."

With an exasperated sigh, Weiss turned to follow her partner into the clearing. Ruby fell back beside her, and together they strode through the open space between the trees, clad in bright red and muted white.

Ruby could feel it. The memories of this place, the terror of being attacked, the rush of battle. The gripping agony she felt as she watched her mother die. So many emotions, all at once. It happened every time she came here.

She paused, and Weiss walked on for a few more steps before she realized that Ruby had stopped walking.

"Ruby? What's wrong?"

Silence was her answer.

Weiss walked up beside her, taking her hand. Ruby almost jumped, startled by the sudden contact.

"Ruby? Is everything okay?"

Her tone was low, defeated. "...Yeah... I just... this place brings back a lot of memories. And not really good ones..."

_"Mama? Where are we going?"_

"Well perhaps we should keep walking then," Weiss replied.

_"Not much further sweetie, we're already halfway there."_

"Ruby? Ruby!"

_"But I don't wanna keep walking... I'm tired... and what about those Grimm that papa always talks about? Aren't they out here too?"_

_Summer smiled, sad and pensive. "No Ruby, don't worry. There aren't any Grimm around here." She squeezed her daughter's hand. "And even if there were: don't worry. I'll protect you. If you're a good girl, I'll even make you cookies when we get back!"_

_Ruby beamed up at her. "Really? Awesome!" Giggling, she released her mother's hand and skipped ahead into the clearing. _

_Summer felt a slow smile reach her face, one that only Ruby could bring about anymore. Her daughter was her shining sun, her only source of happiness. There wasn't much that warmed her heart anymore. Not after he died._

_She reached up and adjusted her two-handed greatsword, Eclipse, so that the strap rested easier on her shoulders. It was such a heavy weapon, a massive sword of shining steel that could slice through stone with its sheer weight and momentum. She had trained using greatswords from an early age; she loved the looks of surprise and the fear in her opponents eyes when she wielded it. _

_And she still got those looks, when her enemies saw the woman with the flowing crimson hair reach back and pull an inhumanly large sword from under her cloak. That still had the power to make her smile, as well. That and Ruby. Her daughter, the little eight-year old skipping around in the cold, making snow angels and lifting the mood with her cheerful laughter._

_Content to watch Ruby enjoy herself, she vacantly scanned the treeline. Nobody else was supposed to be out here, if what he said was true. The church was still hidden, still sacred. **If** what he said was true._

_But then something caught her eye. A spot of black in the trees, moving when everything else was silent and still. Was it moving? She narrowed her eyes._

_ Yes, something was definitely moving... and there, another one. But were they Grimm? _

_Black fur moving against grey bark. The flash of a glaring red eye. A low growl, barely audible over the wind._

_**Grimm.**_

_"No..." she breathed. "There weren't supposed to be any out here... he lied. He lied!"_

_With a collective howl that chilled her to the bone and echoed through the trees, a pack of Beowolves burst from the treeline at a dead sprint._

_Straight for Ruby. _

_Who stood there, a deer in the headlights, frozen in terror as the horrible beasts from her nightmares grew closer and closer. _

_"Ruby!"_

* * *

Distantly, you hear your mother call out to you. You want to look away from the horrible black wolf-things pounding towards you, powdered snow flying in their wake, but you can't.

They are almost on you. Your vision constricts into a tunnel of darkness as terror clutches your heart, and all you can see is the wolves.

You are young, and don't understand the concept of death completely, but you understand that you are going to die. You hope it doesn't hurt.

Suddenly, something shoves you to the ground, and you look up in time to see a flashing silver blade cleave through the air where you stood. Tortured screams rip from the Grimm, limbs fly, and blood steams as it splashes upon the snow.

Gazing up, all you can see is your mother in her armor and her crimson cloak. Strong and resolute, she stands over you, swinging _Eclipse_ in brutal strokes that tear great gouges in the earth. It cuts through the Grimm like they were made of cloth, hewing them in half with no more difficulty than a knife through butter. Blood gushes down in great crimson splashes, dark-furred bodies begin to pile up, and yet still the Beowolves come.

You can't see anything but your mother. You can't focus on anything but her, she is your rock in this terrible storm of blood and animalistic rage.

Something changes in her eyes. A flash of something you don't recognize. You pretend you don't see it, but her swings start to slow in both speed and frequency, and her breathing becomes labored. You can hear it even over the sound of Grimm howling in rage, and yelping in pain as they meet your mother's blade.

She looks down at you, her eyes filled with a potent mixture of fear and love. There is a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach.

Your mother's outline starts to blur. You've seen this before; her semblance.

As she cries out in rage, a shockwave races outward from your mother, and it where it strikes Grimm, they freeze. They hang in mid-air, mid-lunge, or mid-strike. Frozen in time, for a short while.

"Ruby!"

A strong pair of arms wrap themselves around you, and you start to cry as you feel your mother embrace you with a desperate longing. You return the embrace, clinging to her harder than you ever have before.

"Ruby, listen to me. Everything is going to be okay." You lift your head and meet her gaze, and tears start to gather in her warm, brown eyes. "I love you _sooo_ much honey, but you're going to have to do what I say, alright?"

You're unsure of what to say, and your throat is tight and raw.

"Promise me? Promise me you'll do what I say?"

You nod, hesitantly.

"Alright." She sets you down and unclips her cloak, removing it from her shoulders. Horrifyingly, you can see the Grimm slowly starting to move again, albeit at a snail's pace.

"I want you to take mama's cloak and hide under it, okay? Just hide under it, and don't come out. No matter what you hear, no matter what happens, _don't come out_. Can you do that for mama?" She tries to smile, but it doesn't reach her eyes.

"I... I can do it," you say. Only part of you believes that.

"Alright." She smiles again, and this time it's real, even as tears run down her face.

"Take this. Hold on to it, okay? Whenever you look at it, just remember me." From her belt she unpins a cross made of silver, with outward-flaring ends. She pins it to your shirt. "Make sure you don't lose this Ruby. It's important."

You nod, not understanding, but if your mother says it's important, it must be.

"Mama loves you so much my rose, don't ever forget that. Uncle Qrow will take care of you, okay? I love you."

"Wait, why will Uncle Qrow take care of me?" you ask. A horrible realization sets in. "Why won't you take care of me? Mama?"

"Just hide under the cloak Ruby! Do it now!"

You can see the Grimm moving again, but it's like their limbs are encased in concrete. They seem to be gathering themselves, shaking their heads and pawing at the ground.

Fear constricts your heart again, and you want nothing more than to hide, to go to a place where they can't find you.

So you do. You grab the cloak by the edges, and lay down in the snow, stretching it over you until all you can see is red-tinted darkness.

Outside, you can hear your mother speak frantically in hushed, low tones. You can't make out the words, but when she finishes, a sudden pain constricts your heart. You clutch at your chest in agony. It burns like a searing black flame, and vaguely you can hear the wolves howl again, and the pounding of their feet as they close in for the kill.

But then there is a bone-chilling scream, a sound dragged from the deepest depths of the abyss and thrust out into the world.

And then your vision fades to black, and you remember nothing more.

* * *

Images flash through your mind at the speed of light. Memories.

Your mother's team finding you alone in the cold, huddled in her cloak with frozen tears on your face and hundreds of dead Grimm surrounding you.

Your Uncle Qrow taking you in, giving you a place to stay and trying to comfort you as you withdrew into your room and cried. It became a nightly occurrence.

Playing with Uncle Qrow's scythe when he wasn't looking. Then one day, he catches you. But instead of being angry, he offers to teach you how to use it the _right_ way. You happily agree.

Staying with a friend of Qrow's when he had to leave, meeting that friend's daughter, a girl named Yang who immediately takes you in and protects you from all the scary things in the world.

They said Uncle Qrow would come back one day. He never did.

Growing up, attending Signal with Yang and making new friends. Watching news broadcasts of Hunters doing amazing things, and even better, killing Grimm. Anger festers in your blood when you see images of them. _They took your mother_.

You decide you want to be a Hunter.

Fighting off a group of thugs led by a man in a strange bowler hat, and coincidentally, meeting the Headmaster of the most prestigious Huntsman academy in the world, Beacon Academy. He accepts you in two years early, at the age of sixteen. You're nervous, but your dreams become something real, something tangible. You're actually going to become a Hunter.

Arriving at Beacon, meeting all kinds of new people, human and faunus, including a beautiful white-haired girl whom you seem to annoy just by being in her presence. Why do the pretty ones always have the worst personalities?

Partnering with this girl, determined that no matter what, you _will_ become a Hunter. And then, to your surprise, Ozpin places you in the position of team leader. You don't think you're ready. You think you'll fail, that you'll get your team killed. But things don't always turn out the way you think they will.

Tracking down Roman Torchwick and Cinder, which led to their arrest, or in Cinder's case, death. It only took a year, and was nowhere as near as hard as you thought it was going to be. Super-villains with dastardly schemes to take over the world always screw themselves over, you just have to give them time.

Finishing your first year, celebrating at a graduation party, talking with your white-haired partner on a secluded balcony, as the stars wheel and spin overhead. You have come to trust eachother with your lives, and it's an incredible feeling. When she smiles, your heart beats rapidly and you grow faint of breath. You realize you've fallen for her.

You've fallen for your partner. But what was her name? Hell, what's your name? Floating in this empty void of memories and emotions, you can't remember.

Ruby.

Yes, that was your name.

"Ruby."

Yes, dark abyss, thank you, I can remember my own name now.

"Ruby! _Wake_ up!"

* * *

Weiss was halfway between furious and terrified. When her partner had blacked out and fallen to the cold snow with no warning of any kind, she had thought it was a joke.

"Ruby!"

She crouched over the brunette, shaking her by the collar and desperately hoping that something wasn't seriously wrong.

"Ruby! _Wake_ up!"

With a start and a gasping cough, Ruby jolted and immediately grasped Weiss' shoulder, using it to pull herself upright.

She was panting, and her eyes darted around furiously, as if she was trying to make sense of her surroundings. Weiss grabbed her face with both her hands and turned it, forcing Ruby to stare at her. "Ruby! Look at me!"

The brunette's wild eyes softened, and her frantic breathing slowed. "W-Weiss?"

The heiress couldn't help but smile as relief flooded through her veins. "You absolute _dolt_. What the hell was that?"

"I... I don't know. One second we were walking to the clearing, and the next I was having this crazy dream, almost like a flashback. You know when people say they can see their lives flashing before their eyes? I know it sounds stupid but... it was like that. It's like I re-lived everything."

Weiss was skeptical, but she knew that Ruby would never lie to her. The girl didn't have it in her. "Alright... did anything else happen?"

"Not really. Next thing I knew, I woke up here, and I was just _really_ scared for some reason. I don't really know of what, either."

Weiss frowned. "Well that certainly is strange."

"Yeah, I-... do you smell something burning?"

The heiress sniffed the air, realizing that Ruby was right. Something _was_ burning, but what?

"Ruby, your pack!"

The brunette flung the pack off of her back, then scrambled over to it and opened it. She pulled out a black sleeping back, which was smoking for some reason. Unrolling it quickly, a silver cross fell out. The snow it landed on quickly melted.

"What the..." Ruby breathed.

"Is that... the cross you always wear on your belt?"

Ruby looked dumbfounded. "Yeah. I don't... why is it hot?" She touched it with her finger, then quickly withdrew it with a yelp. "Haha, yeah it's still hot!"

"You're an idiot. Is there something else in the pack that might have caused it to heat up?"

Ruby quickly checked the pack. "Uh, nope. That's so weird..."

"What is it? The cross, I mean."

"Oh, I don't really know. My mom gave it to me right before she died. Said it was important. I've kept it with me ever since."

"Have you ever had it looked at by a professional metallurgist?"

"A metallur-what?" Ruby asked. She picked up the cross carefully. It was now cool to the touch.

"Someone who specializes in metal-work. They could probably tell you why it did that. Maybe it's made of some strange material that heats up under certain circumstances."

"Yeah... I'll do that when we get back." She placed the cross back in the pack, then shrugged. "Oh well. We're really close now. The grave is... just up there." She looked smaller, somehow, when she spoke.

Weiss reached out her hand and took Ruby's. "Let's go then."

The brunette nodded. "Right. Thanks for being here Weiss."

"It's nothing. We're partners right?"

Ruby grinned. "We're more than that silly."

She blushed, looking ahead so she wouldn't have to look at Ruby. "Right... let's just go."

But when Ruby squeezed her hand, she squeezed back.

* * *

"Hey Mom..."

Ruby walked up to the grave and knelt down in front of it. It was on the edge of a clifftop, a barren place devoid of any trees for a long ways. Far down below, a massive river threaded through the landscape. The sky was overcast and grey, and the whole scene was eerily silent as the cold, piercing winter breeze picked up Ruby's cloak and set it aflutter.

Light snow fell from the overcast grey skies, laying its veil over the frosted ground and the grave itself. It was a simple affair, a grey, stone plaque, slanting upward towards the sky. A blooming rose was etched into the upper half, while the lower half held only a few words.

Weiss moved closer so she could read them. "Summer Rose. Thus kindly I scatter..." she whispered.

"It's been another year," Ruby continued. The heiress knelt beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "But this one was the best by far. A lot of stuff happened, and I'm the best fighter in my class, probably the school now. Yang's doing great, Blake too. They're really cute when they're together, and they complement eachother super well."

Ruby paused and looked out over the grave, into the cold white yonder beyond. "Everyone else is doing fine too. We're training harder and harder, and everyone is going to be great Hunters, I just know it. We're gonna do a lot of good Mom, just like you did. Just like..." Her voice hitched a little, but she caught herself. "Just like Dad did. I'm so proud of you guys, and I know you'd be proud of me too."

The sad smile on her face turned into a genuinely happy one. "But I didn't even tell you the best part! So Mom, remember my partner, Weiss Schnee, the heiress to Schnee Dust?"

She turned to her partner. "Mom, Weiss. Weiss, Mom."

It was one of the saddest, most heartfelt things she had ever had to do. But she waved anyway, for Ruby's sake. "Hi Ms. Rose. I'm Weiss."

"She's the first person I've ever taken to meet you, besides Yang. So be nice!" She giggled. "Anyway, I've got some uh, pretty big news. Weiss and I are dating! I know, awesome right? She's super amazing, probably the coolest person I've ever met. She's really smart, and strong, and beautiful, like seriously, the most beautiful girl I've ever met, and she's really kind deep down, and she makes me so happy and... and when I feel sad all I have to do is think of her and I... and I..."

Tears started to stream down her face as she braced herself on the ground with her hands. "A-and I love her _so_ much Mom. I love h-her _so_ much it hurts... but in a really_ good_ way..."

Weiss' heart went out to her partner, and she wrapped her arms around Ruby from behind and hugged her tighter than she ever had before. She felt the brunette's aura reach out, looking for some form of solace, and she reached out with her own. Their auras touched, then flowed and melted into eachother. She gasped silently, almost overwhelmed by the transcendent feeling.

Almost immediately, Ruby stopped crying, and her breathing slowed. She reached her arms up and grabbed onto Weiss', holding them close. Neither said a word, but the heiress' mind was racing.

Right then, right there, she decided. She made the conscious choice.

No matter what it took, no matter who or what tried to come between them, she would stay with Ruby, after Beacon and beyond. If that meant she had to give up her lineage, her family, her future position in the company, then _so be it_. What she held within her arms was precious beyond measure, something she never wanted to lose, never wanted to be without.

She gathered her courage, to say the words she needed to, the only words that could truly articulate the way she felt right now. The way she felt about Ruby.

She clenched her teeth. The words came out in a rush. "RubyIloveyou."

"Wha... what?"

"... I... I love you! There, I said it! Happy now?"

Ruby was on her in an instant, tackling her to the ground and kissing her all over.

She struggled and attempted to pry Ruby off of herself, to no avail. "Not in front of your Mom, you dunce!"

"O-oh, right." Ruby stood up. "Um, yeah, see Mom? She's just the best, the greatest ever. I know you'd love her too. So. Yeah..." she trailed off. "I miss you. A lot, but things are a lot better now. I've never been happier, and I'm not just saying that. When Weiss is with me, I feel like I can do anything. I _know_ I can do anything."

Weiss interjected. "I'll take care of your daughter. Through everything, I promise."

Ruby beamed at her, then turned back to the silent grave. Although it didn't seem so forlorn anymore. The air seemed brighter, as if the gloom of the day couldn't keep their spirits down.

"I love you Mom. I'll always miss you. But I know you're with me too." She reached down and laid her palm over the grave. "I'll see you next year. Bye Mom."

She turned to her partner with a sad smile. "Ready to go?"

Weiss smiled back. Something had changed between them, she could feel it. She felt closer to Ruby than ever. "Yeah."

* * *

Warmth. She was warm.

Somehow, even in the bitter chill of the night, with snow-covered trees disappearing into the darkness and black clouds overhead, she was warm.

They were in a black sleeping bag in a small tent, big enough for only one person. Technically, Weiss was small enough to be half a person, so it all worked out great. Outside, the embers of the fire they had made were cooling in the freezing air.

"I still can't believe you said it! Say it again, pleaaassee?"

"Not if you pester me like that!"

"Pleeaasee..."

"Oh, not the eyes."

"..."

"Fine. I... I love you."

Ruby giggled, pulling Weiss into her so that their bodies fit together like a puzzle piece in the confines of the sleeping bag. The bag rustled as they moved in it, and the only other sound was the howling of the wind from beyond the tent.

"Sorry," the brunette apologized. "I just _really_ love hearing you say that. It gives me this crazy little feeling and I just feel like I can fly and it makes my heart pound and there's all these little butterflies in my stomach and I just feel so _warm_ and-"

"Ruby, shush. I understand. It does the same thing to me."

"You mean it?"

Well of _course_ I mean it! Have I ever said anything to you that I don't mean?"

Ruby buried her face in Weiss' hair. "Well you call me a dunce, a dolt, and an idiot like, once every few seconds."

"Okay... well maybe not that. But I _do_ mean this. _I love you_."

"Eeeek you're so cute!"

"Keep it up," Weiss grumbled. "And I'll just stop."

Ruby gasped. "Nooo, you wouldn't!"

Weiss sighed. "Well... maybe I'd only say it when it needs to be said then."

"Which is like, all the time."

"Stop out-logicing me."

"Out-logicing? That's not a word. As heiress of Schnee Dust, you should be ashamed!"

"As heiress of Schnee Dust, I _should_ be ashamed. For falling in love with a bumbling dolt like yourself."

Ruby simply giggled and squeezed Weiss closer.

After a pause, the brunette spoke. "Hey, thanks for coming out here with me. It means the world to me."

"You're welcome."

Silence fell again, and after a minute, Ruby started to think her partner might have already fallen asleep. But then she spoke, low and almost timid.

"Hey Ruby?"

"Yes _my princess_?"

Weiss' tone immediately turned harsh. "Stuff it dunce. Or else I won't take you home with me over break."

The way Ruby said 'my princess' probably pissed Weiss off. Judging by the way her tone immediately turned harsh, it probably did. But it didn't lessen the impact her words carried. Ruby was speechless for a few seconds. Had she heard her partner right? Did Weiss really want to take her home to Atlas, to meet her parents, with everything that entailed?

"D... Did I hear you right?"

"Yes. If you'll accept, I'll take you home with me to meet my parents. As my girlfriend."

Ruby sounded incredulous. "Are you serious?!"

"Didn't we just talk about me being serious about what I say?" Weiss huffed. "Something about tonight... it all just clicked. I want to stay with you, hell I _need_ to stay with you after Beacon. I honestly don't care _what_ they say. I don't care if they kick me out, if they disown me, whatever. It's my life, and I want to live it with you by my side, or not at all. They will _not_ marry me off to some brain-dead heir just because it'll 'benefit the company'," she mocked.

"Oh my gosh," Ruby breathed. "You're serious. I can't believe you want to do this! For me? For Ruby, the clumsy dolt?"

"You underestimate just how much you mean to me," Weiss whispered.

"A-alright. I mean of course! Of course I'll go... won't it be really hard for you though?"

"With you by my side, I can do anything."

"Wow, steal my romantic clichés too," Ruby joked. "Man I can't believe it."

"That I really want to take you home?"

"Well that, and... I can't believe you actually picked me. Me, Ruby, your partner. You picked me... You could have anyone else in the _entire_ world if you wanted, and you picked _me_."

"It's really not that big of a deal..." Weiss grumbled.

"If you say so," Ruby said with a smirk. "But now I know you _looove_ me."

"Sure, whatever."

Ruby turned her partner around, so that she could nuzzle her face into the heiress' collar, who shuddered in response. She really couldn't get enough of the girl. "Can you say it? Just one more time?"

"Dolt," Weiss whispered. "I love you. Now get some sleep."

Ruby smiled. "I love you too."

* * *

_**Abenddammerung means dusk in German. I really love the parallel, Ruby tells Weiss she loves her in Dammerung, and Weiss is finally able to say it back in Abenddammerung.**_

_**Weiss finally told Ruby she loves her! And she's going to take Ruby to see her parents!**_

_**So how did you guys like this chapter? Technically, all of this was going to fit into chapter 6, the one I cut short because I was going on ship early. But the day of, I learned I was actually going with everyone else, so I had time to finish this, and write the scene with Summer's grave, which is one of the major scenes in this story. **_

_**Praise is all well and good, but if you guys could, would you point out some things I need to work on? Was my prose awful, were my descriptions confusing, did the point of view not make sense? I also wrote in second person for the first time, and it was really hard to switch back to third afterward. **_

_**But yeah, please review if you have the time, and thank you all for reading. I'll be back in a month and a half or so with more!**_


	10. Chapter 8 - Falling Alseep

_**Don't let me go!**_

_** So hold me close and never let me, never let me go**_  
_** At my lowest of lows, when I need you the most.**_  
_** So let's reverse, could you look for me, could you look for me first?**_  
_** I will hold you close, I will never let you go**_  
_** I will never let you go**_  
_** I will never let you go**_

_** My hands welcome yours as you begin to see me**_  
_** My heart is starting to accept your rescue completely**_  
_** This new life that you placed in my heart**_  
_** I hope that I will make it through to you**_  
_** And in my steps you will follow behind, oh**_  
_** Don't let me go!**_

* * *

"Ruby?"

The brunette turned away from her desk, glad for a distraction from her studies. "Yeah?"

It was still morning on a Sunday, and they were staying in, to make up for the work they had missed by taking Friday off to go see Summer's grave. Weak sunlight streamed in through the shaded window, and the air seemed quiet and calm.

"Didn't you say your birthday was yesterday? When we visited your mother's grave?" Weiss asked.

"Um, yeah?"

Weiss finally looked up from her bed, where she was also studying and making up for the missed work. "Aren't you going to celebrate it at all?"

"Oh." Ruby looked down at the floor. "Nah, I don't really see the point. I spend my birthday visiting my Mom and telling her how I'm doing."

The heiress furrowed her brow. "Wait, so that day isn't actually the anniversary of her death?"

"What, you think I'd go visit her on the day she died? I mean, that would just be too... too sad, I guess. I'd much rather just go spend my birthday with her than go see her on the day she died."

Weiss leaned forward in her chair, giving Ruby her full attention. "So, you don't celebrate your birthday at all? Yang doesn't even get you anything?"

"Nope, I told her a long time ago to just ignore it, so she doesn't say anything. Actually, you're the only one besides her who knows when it is. Wait, a minute... how did you remember when it was in the first place? I don't remember telling you..."

The heiress smirked. "One, because you're a forgetful dolt, and two, because you were drunk. It was one of Yang's team nights, remember? The one where we ended up drinking all that wine?"

"Oh... yeah... I still don't remember telling you though."

"Well I do. I wrote it down."

Ruby's cheeks turned red. "Wow... really? Um, thanks, I guess. I didn't know it meant that much to you."

"Ruby, I might not have felt exactly the same way about you then as I do now, but you were still my partner and my friend. It would be remiss of me _not_ to remember your birthday."

"Well... alright." Ruby looked back up, meeting the heiress' steady gaze. "Just don't do anything about it? Please? I've never really been one for parties or large crowds. I'm not really the best at... social... situations. Especially not the kind of ones you're used to, with all those fancy rich people."

Weiss grinned. A plan was already forming in her head. So for now, she had to distract her partner, lead her off the scent. "Well _that_ wasn't completely obvious or anything. Ruby, you wouldn't know high-class if it bit you on your tight little ass."

Ruby's face grew red as a tomato. "My... what?"

Weiss gestured towards the brunette with her finger. "Your... oh. Oh. _Crap_."

Ruby was silent. She looked away, stared at a random corner of the room, and twirled her hair with her fingers.

Weiss cleared her throat. Her face was almost as red as Ruby's. "Right then. I have some things to attend to. I will see you later. Goodbye now."

And with that, she stood up as quickly as possible and left the room, closing the door behind her.

And as she walked away, she swore she could hear Ruby laughing.

* * *

Moonlight now streamed through the window, as Ruby finally laid down her pen and closed her textbooks. Leaning back in the chair, she let out a deep sigh.

"Finally... done..." she muttered.

She relaxed, simply reveling in the fact that all the day's work had finally been completed. Finally, there was nothing looming over her head anymore. Well, except for meeting Weiss' parents in about five months._ That _was always in the back of her mind, a nagging worry she couldn't quell, even though it was a long ways off.

The same questions kept repeating in her mind. What would happen? Would Weiss' parents disown her? Would they not even care at all? Would _Weiss_ break up with her when faced with the potential consequences? Would she leave her alone, again? She didn't want to be alone anymore.

And where was Weiss now? As she looked around the room, all she noticed was how empty and lifeless it felt without her partner.

The heiress had left earlier in the day after an embarrassing remark, and hadn't attempted to contact Ruby since. To say that she was worried would be an understatement.

She couldn't relax anymore. She leaned forward in her chair and started absently biting her nails. Her mind swirled with questions and disquieting thoughts, entertaining all of the worst possible things that could have happened to Weiss. Maybe she'd been kidnapped, maybe she'd been mugged and beaten, abandoned in an alleyway. Maybe she'd decided Ruby was incredibly too clingy and annoying, and had taken an airship away from Vale. Maybe she'd-

The door swung open, and a white haired-girl in a black dress strode into the room, dropping her bags by the door. "Ruby I-"

"Weiss!" Ruby sprang from her chair and nearly tacked the heiress with her semblance, before embracing her completely.

"R-Ruby, what are you doing?!"

"Ohmygosh I missed you so much I thought you were dead or that someone had robbed you or that you'd left or-mmph..."

The kiss was warm and captivating. Weiss' lips were soft, and tasted of vanilla.

After a few breathless seconds, the heiress released her. "Geez. Kissing you is pretty much the only way to get you to shut up these days."

Ruby looked down at her feet and rubbed the back of her neck. "Sorry... I just got really worried for some reason..." She lowered her voice. "I know it seems really clingy of me... sorry..."

This time, Weiss was the one that embraced _her_. "I don't mind one bit. It's kind of... nice, knowing that someone cares about me that much. Not just anyone either, I mean. I... why is it so hard to talk around you, you big dolt?"

Ruby giggled. "I don't know, it's definitely not my overflowing charisma though. But I know the feeling."

Softly, Weiss laughed with her. "Right. What I mean is, it's nice to know that _you_ care that much about me. It's great that _someone_ cares that much, but it's so much better because it's _you_. Does that make sense?"

"Perfectly," Ruby said with a warm smile. "I mean, uh, it makes a perfect amount of sense. Yeah, that."

Weiss smiled back. "You're such a dolt. Anyway, I got you a surprise."

"Oh yay! Wait, for my birthday?"

"Mmhmm," Weiss affirmed.

"That's nice, but like I said, I don't really-"

"Ruby, growing up, my birthday was one of the only times when I was happy. To me, every birthday meant another year closer to growing up and getting out of that house."

Ruby furrowed her brow. Did Weiss really have happy birthdays simply for that reason?

The heiress frowned. "Actually now that I think about it, that's a morbid reason to be happy. Just... at least I was happy during it. Urgh, anyway, what I mean to say is, there's no way you're going to just ignore your birthday. Not when your girlfriend is Weiss Schnee. Understand?"

"Well... I guess. But-"

"No buts!" With that, Weiss walked over to the bags she had laid at the door, and began rifling through them.

Ruby smirked. "Except for my "cute little butt" though right?"

Weiss stopped. "Mention that again, and I'll give you a poison that kills your taste buds, so you won't ever be able to taste a cookie again."

"Wow..." Ruby said as her eyes went wide. "That's serious. Like, super serious."

"Dead serious," came the threatening reply. Then, Weiss pulled out a flat white box and walked over to her.

The brunette stared, first at the box, then at her. "Um... are you gonna open it? What is it?"

Weiss stood with one hand holding the box, and the other on her hip. In her black dress, she cut an imposing figure. "It's a cake. But not just any cake. And if you want it, you have to promise you'll never mention that again."

"What, the butt thing?" Ruby laughed.

The heiress narrowed her eyes. "Yes."

Ruby rolled hers. "Sure. I won't mention it. Happy?"

"Happy enough." She opened the box. Inside was a cookie cake, covered in various colors of frosting and with the words: "Happy 19th Birthday" written in icing.

"Is... is that a cookie cake?" Ruby asked.

Weiss nodded.

She gulped, finding her mouth suddenly dry. A younger Ruby from two years ago would have leapt at the cake without a moment of hesitation. But this wasn't younger Ruby. This was older, more mature Ruby, with longer hair, a more adult-looking face, and more life experience.

She lasted five seconds more before throwing herself at it.

Weiss held her back with one arm, holding the cake away with the other and spinning to keep Ruby away.

"Nah ah ah! Not until I show you your other presents!"

Ruby's frantic struggles slowed, and her eyes held a profound sadness, like that of a kicked puppy. "But... but..."

"What did I say about buts! Down! Now!"

With a whimper and a pouting lower lip, Ruby plopped down onto the floor. "Fine."

The heiress watched her for a few seconds, then placed the cake on her own bed. Warily, she walked over to the bags and pulled out multiple black cases, all taped together, and a smaller parcel wrapped in brown paper.

She set the cases down in front of Ruby. "Specialized ammunition, all chambered for Crescent Rose. Burn, freeze, wind, and lighting dust," she counted off on her fingers as she spoke. "Acidic, EMP, titanium sabot AP, HEDP, tranquilizer rounds with built-in tracking, and even two new types that I pulled a few favors to acquire."

She held up a black case marked with a red X. "These rounds have a miniature rocket in the projectile itself. The armorer assured me that they can reach out to two thousand metres."

"And these," she said, as she held up another black case. This one was marked with tiny white dots in a grid pattern. "These are a prototype round that's supposed to be effective against Grimm. They have tiny hypersonic emitters in them that emit a piercing noise far above our levels of hearing. But once the round lodges itself in a Grimm, those sound waves do something strange to them. Apparently they go insane, start clawing at themselves and eachother, completely ignore everything else around them. They don't really know why yet, but it works," Weiss finished. She put the case down, then turned to look at Ruby.

The girl was drooling. She was _drooling_.

Weiss pinched her nose between her thumb and forefinger, and let out a deep sigh. "Maybe that was a bad idea."

Ruby jumped up, running over to the cases. "Are you kidding?! This is like the coolest thing anyone has ever gotten me holy crap wowww!" She frantically opened them, holding the rounds up to the lamp-light and marveling at each one in turn. "Weiss this is so awesome! Thank you thank you thank you!"

The heiress smirked, obviously pleased with herself. "You're welcome."

"Ohmygosh," Ruby breathed. She set the case she was holding down. "I'm gonna have to take like, a few hours to myself and just go through all this and load them into clips. And then I'll have to test-fire them at a range!" She hugged herself and shook back and forth. "Gaah I'm so excited!"

"Well before you do that, I still have one more thing for you."

Ruby looked up. "Really?"

Weiss held out the small parcel she carried, a small object wrapped in brown paper.

Curious, Ruby took it, sat down on her bed, and unwrapped it. It was a small circular locket, made of silver and engraved with a blooming rose, which in turn appeared to be made up of tiny diamonds.

"Wowww... Weiss it's so pretty! Are those... are those real diamonds?"

Weiss huffed, as if offended that Ruby had considered any other possibility. "Well of course they are. I am a Schnee, remember?"

Ruby smiled and opened it, but looked back up at Weiss when she saw that it was empty. "But there aren't any pictures inside?"

"Ruby, have we taken any pictures together yet? I mean, of us _actually _together?"

"Well... now that you mention it, I don't think so." Ruby tapped her chin in thought. "Oh, I know! Ren has that really nice camera remember?"

Weiss scoffed. "Right, ever since he picked up photography as a hobby. What a strange thing to do."

"To each their own," Ruby said with a shrug. "Anyway, I'll ask if we can borrow it, and we'll take a picture of us like, holding hands or something. Then I can put one of you smiling in the left slot, and the picture of us together in the right!"

The heiress cocked her head to the side. "Why a picture of me smiling?"

Ruby set the locket down on her dresser. "Because you have a really beautiful smile, and I want to see it more often."

And there it was, Ruby thought. That smile.

"Oh stop, you," Weiss laughed.

"Hey!" Ruby exclaimed. "You're not blushing as much this time!"

Weiss looked down in embarrassment.

"Oh... well, you weren't, haha."

"Yeah I was... trying to work on it. Being less embarrassed when you compliment me, I mean. I thought I was getting better."

Ruby wrapped her arm around the heiress' shoulder and pulled her closer. "You are, don't worry. I think it's cute."

"Stop calling me that," Weiss grumbled.

Ruby giggled in reply. "So was this where you were, out in Vale City all day getting this stuff?"

The heiress nodded. "Sorry for not telling you where I was going. I didn't mean to worry you." She glanced over at the desk, noticing the study material haphazardly strewn about it. "Were you studying all day?"

"Yeap. Well, not all day, actually. I did something else too."

Weiss looked at her, waiting for her to continue.

"Uh... oh, I got an idea! Here, lay back with me!" She grasped Weiss by the shoulder and laid back on the bed, gently pulling the heiress with her.

"Ruby, what are we doing?" she huffed.

"You'll see." As soon as Weiss lay on her back beside her, Ruby clapped her hands twice.

And the lights turned off, and the ceiling lit up. Painted starfields, whirling nebula, shooting stars, all laid out like a tapestry of the night sky, glowing in the dark upon the deep blue backdrop of the ceiling in beautiful detail.

Weiss was breathless. "Ruby... how... how long did this take you?"

"Not too long," she whispered in reply. "I uh, kinda used stencils to draw the stars and stuff. I can't really paint _that_ good."

"It's beautiful..."

"You really like it that much?"

Instead of replying, Weiss rolled on top of her and pressed a long, slow kiss to her lips. The heiress' white hair tickled the side of her face. The sensations were amplified by the darkness, since she couldn't see Weiss at all. She could only_ feel_ her.

"I love it," the heiress whispered. "I love _you_."

A giant grin stretched its way across Ruby's face, and she kicked her legs back and forth with glee. "Auugh how did I get such an awesome girlfriend?"

"Shush you dolt, you're ruining the moment." But Weiss smiled back, barely visible in the dark.

She rolled off of Ruby, and they laid there side by side, staring up at the painted starfield.

After a while Weiss sighed, a plaintive sound. Ruby could instantly tell that something was bothering her.

"What's wrong?" Ruby asked.

"Just... summer break is in only five months."

"You're not worried about the end of the year exams or anything? Just going home to your parents?"

"Well, going with _you_. And Ruby, if I ever failed my exams, I'd go into self-imposed exile," she laughed.

"Yeesh, don't do that," Ruby replied with a giggle, then paused. "You look good in black, by the way," she whispered.

Weiss shifted her head so that it was leaning against Ruby's. Their fingers found eachother and intertwined. Their auras did the same.

"Happy birthday Ruby, " Weiss whispered.

The brunette thanked her with her lips.

As Weiss laid her head back again, she thought about the girl next to her. When she had first met Ruby, the thought of falling in love with her had never even entered her mind. And ending up in an actual, working relationship? Well, that was simply preposterous.

And yet here they were, and she couldn't imagine things any other way. She didn't _want_ things any other way.

_"This is perfect," _Weiss found herself thinking._ "Nothing can take this moment from me."_

"So uh... can I have some of that cake now?"

* * *

**-4 months until summer break-**

Weiss found herself walking alone, down a stone pathway between class buildings. There was a spring in her step that wasn't there a few months ago.

She glanced at the other students as she passed them. The only thing that set her school uniform apart from theirs were the simple diamond earrings she wore. She thought them a simple, yet elegant touch.

There was a familiar scent on the air, and she smirked as she recognized it. A red flash blurred into existence by her side, and solidified into the shape of her partner, sporting a huge grin.

"Hi Ruby."

"Heya Weiss! How was your day?"

The heiress shrugged. "Decent enough. Yours?"

"About the same. Couldn't end quickly enough, I can't wait for tonight."

"Ah yes, team night. It's Blake's turn to pick where we go, isn't it?"

"Yeap. I just hope we don't go sit in a library this time," Ruby snickered.

"Really Ruby? The bookworm jokes stopped being funny in a year ago."

"Yeah... I know. I'm trying to bring 'em back."

"Well do us all a favor, and don't."

Ruby grinned and intentionally bumped into her partner. Weiss frowned and bumped her back, and the brunette giggled.

"So when can we hold hands?" Ruby asked, changing the subject.

"We've talked about this before, remember? When we tell my parents. I don't want them finding out beforehand; it's going to be hard enough as it is."

Ruby folded her hands behind her head as they walked, closer and closer towards the large fountain at the center of campus.

"Makes sense. I just wish I could kiss you so everyone else could see."

Weiss frowned. "What, you want to show me off?"

"No, but I'm really proud of you, and..." Ruby paused, looking thoughtful. "Yeah, I guess I _do_ kind of want to show you off. Err, well, show off that we're together. I dunno, it sounds kind of weird now. Ugh, you made it sound weird!"

"If I made it sound weird, it was _probably_ weird to begin with."

Ruby looked sidelong at the heiress, rubbing the back of her neck. "I guess what I meant to say, is that I want to show off the fact that we're together. Does that sound better?"

Weiss smirked. "Sure, we'll go with that."

They drew closer to the fountain, close enough to see Yang and Blake waiting for them. The two girls appeared to be in the midst of a lively conversation.

Ruby grinned and bumped into Weiss one last time, then flashed off, re-appearing next to Yang. The blonde didn't skip a beat.

"Ruby, sleep in a haunted house for a night, or fight an Ursa without your weapon. Go."

Blake looked at her expectantly, and the brunette frowned and tapped her chin. "Um... is the house _actually_ haunted? Like, with real ghosts?"

"You don't know," Blake clarified.

"Um..."

"Definitely the haunted house," Weiss interjected, as she walked up to the group. "Ghosts aren't real anyway, but fighting an Ursa without your weapon is one of the _dumbest_ ideas I've ever heard."

Ruby grinned. "Ooh good point. I'm gonna have to agree with her. Ghosts can't really hurt you, but an Ursa _definitely_ can."

A victorious grin stretched its way across Blake's face, and she patted Yang on the back. The blonde sighed. "Sorry Yang, you're the only here with a fear of ghosts, it seems. And to be fair, you're probably the only one of us that could actually _win_ against an Ursa with your bare fists."

That brought a smile to Yang's face. "Yeah, I probably am." She mimicked some jabs and a brutal uppercut. "He wouldn't stand a chance."

"If you're done shadowboxing," Weiss cut in,"Blake, have you decided what we're doing for team night?"

"I feel like Mistralian pasta," Blake replied.

Ruby looked at her in confusion. "So... just dinner?"

Blake nodded. "There's this really good pasta place I've heard about. I checked them out online, they've gotten really good reviews."

"Is there anything you _don't_ do research on?" Yang asked.

Blake chuckled. "Dating you, apparently. If I'd known what I was getting myself into..."

Yang reached over and laid her arm over Blake's shoulders. "Aww, you love me though. You'd have done it anyway."

"That's besides the point," Blake said. But she couldn't hide the smile on her face.

* * *

"Here," Ruby said. "Try these on."

They were in their room, preparing for their trip into Vale. It was still early evening, but the sky was blanketed in gloomy slate-grey clouds. The threat of rain hung heavy in the air.

"What are... No. I am _not _wearing sneakers."

"Oh come on, please?" Ruby pleaded.

Weiss crossed her arms. "No! _You_ might be comfortable in ratty street clothes, but _I _won't be caught dead in them. _I_ actually have a reputation to uphold."

"Fine your worshipfullness." Ruby said, letting out a sigh. "I just wish you wouldn't wear high heels so much. You know they're really bad for your feet right? I mean, they probably feel fine right now, but they give you a lot of bone and tendon problems later on. And I don't want that to happen to your cute little feet."

Weiss grimaced. "My _cute little feet_?"

"Yeap. They're so tiny!"

"Oh shut up," Weiss replied, turning to hide the blush on her face. But when her partner left for the bathroom, she snatched the white sneakers from Ruby's bed.

* * *

"Told you you'd like those sneakers," Ruby whispered to her.

Weiss simply huffed, as the hostess led them through a warren of tight, candle-lit wooden corridors. The restaurant was built into a large hill, and had multiple levels and rooms. They were all dressed in casual clothes, nothing too fancy. The restaurant wasn't _that_ formal, even if it was a far cry from a street vendor. Landscape paintings from Mistral lined the walls, and each room they passed by held a white-clothed circular table with patrons in various stages of ordering, waiting for their orders, or eating.

The sound of light conversation echoed through the low, almost tunnel-like passageways they were led through. Eventually they reached a room near what Weiss assumed was the back of the restaurant: a small space with room enough for a simple table capable of seating exactly four people. Warm light emanated from the group of candles in the center of it; the only source of light in the room. Aside from their silverware and menus, the only other item on the table was a thin glass vase with a tulip in it.

They took their seats, received their menus with gracious "thank you's," and started looking through them.

"Sooooo," Ruby began," why'd you pick this place Blake?"

She shrugged. "Always looked interesting to me. Plus, I was hungry for Mistralian honestly. It's been a while since I've had good pasta."

Ruby nodded and looked back to her menu, but as she did, Weiss saw Blake and Yang share a grin.

She frowned as she considered her wine choices, wondering what they were up to. Ruby's hand found hers under the table, and her heart fluttered a little. It was a reassuring sensation, something that always served to keep her grounded and stable.

The world could be burning and falling apart, she thought, and she would be fine as long as her hand was in Ruby's. Her frown turned upward into a small grin.

Their waiter arrived and introduced himself, and they all placed their orders. And after writing all of it down, he left, leaving the four of them alone in the room.

Yang leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms behind her head. "You guys don't have to hold hands under the table, you know."

She stiffened, feeling blood rush to her cheeks. Ruby simply smiled, and pulled their entwined hands up and placed them on top of the table. In full view of everyone.

Weiss frantically checked behind her to see if anyone was in the doorway."Dolt! What if someone sees us?"

Blake spoke up in her usual dry, disconcerting tone. "Weiss, that's one of the reasons I picked this place. These rooms are as private as you can get, without renting out the whole place anyway."

"These are pretty much double dates now too," Yang added. "So we figured we'd get you some privacy, seeing as how the only place you two can be yourselves is in your room."

Ruby beamed at them. "Best sister_ everrrr_~," she sang.

"Don't I know it," Yang replied with a grin.

Actually, Weiss considered, it _was_ an incredibly thoughtful gesture, one she hadn't been expecting from Yang, of all people. But then again, the blonde _was_ considerably more... tolerable, when Blake was around to temper her more annoying tendencies.

She nodded, albeit slowly. "Thank you then. That was quite thoughtful of you two." To emphasize the point, she squeezed Ruby's hand. The brunette looked over at her, smiled, and squeezed back.

Yang and Blake smiled too.

Looking sidelong at Ruby, she realized that the brunette was still staring at her. She coughed to clear her throat, and Ruby jolted, then quickly looked back at the rest of the group. "So uh, what have you guys been up to?"

"Not much," Yang said. "Although I'm hearing rumors that this year's final exam is gonna be a little unorthodox.

Weiss raised her eyebrow. "Unorthodox?"

Blake nodded. "Apparently, it's going to be a field exam, and they're going to start sending us on field exercises more often, to prepare us I assume."

"So like, what, scouting missions into Forever Fall or something?" Ruby asked.

"Extended missions," Blake clarified. "Multiple days long. And get this, apparently they're solo missions. For the most part."

"I guess they feel we need more individual training." Weiss said. "It makes sense, in its own way. We've been working with our partners for so long, but what happens if, or when, we get separated? We need to learn how to operate on our own to be effective Hunters."

"Yeap. But those are just rumors right now," Yang stated. "So who really knows what's gonna happen."

"I just hope it's not another hundred-question long test," Ruby groaned.

Yang laughed at her sister's unease. Even though Ruby's study habits had drastically improved, she was still no fan of long tests. "I know right? That was killer."

"I slept for like, thirteen hours after that one," Ruby said.

Weiss glared at her. "That's only because you were up the entire day beforehand. I told you, cookies are _not_ a good way to keep focused while studying. If sugar poisoning was a thing, you would have died from it."

"Seemed like a good idea at the time," Ruby murmured.

The conversation continued, light-hearted and friendly. After almost three years, the members of Team RWBY knew eachother like childhood friends, and nights like this only served to strengthen that bond.

The waiter arrived with their food, and Ruby let her hand slip from Weiss' while he was in the room. The instant he left thought, she grasped it again. The heiress only shook her head in amusement.

They ate, laughed, and talked long into the night.

Ruby slipped her shoes off under the table, and rubbed her feet up and down her girlfriend's legs, who attempted to keep a straight face all the while.

When they finally left, full in both body and spirit, each of them reflected on how well things had turned out.

And yet, Weiss couldn't keep a single, nagging thought from worrying her.

_"Only four months until summer break... only four months until I have to go home..."_

But then she glanced at Ruby, and saw the smile she was wearing. Somehow, it made the night so much brighter. Lights shone stronger, and the air seemed warmer and more welcoming.

Maybe, she reconsidered, just maybe, things would turn out alright.

Maybe.

* * *

**- 3 months until summer break -**

Ruby frowned in concentration.

It was late morning. Light streamed through the open window, along with a warm breeze that rustled the pages of her open textbook. A solitary songbird was singing somewhere in the distance, hidden among the bright green trees and flowering bushes of the spacious glen that made up the view from her room.

As focused as she was on studying, her mind didn't register the sound of the door opening until a few seconds after the fact. Curious, she turned around. And then her face lit up in a huge grin, and she sprang out of her chair to rush to her partner.

"OhmygoshWeissyou'rebackI-"

But Weiss stopped her with a raised hand. Ruby halted, puzzled, and took a second look at her girlfriend.

Weiss looked _bad_. Her field outfit: loose green and brown clothes made more for utility than fashion, were torn and disheveled. Her hair was matted and dirty, even brown in clumped patches. Her face was stained with the grime of five straight days of field exercises.

She looked_ exhausted_, in every sense of the word.

Ruby's eyes softened as she met Weiss' dull, lifeless ones.

The heiress' words came out as a mumble. "Ruby, I've been in the field for _five days_, the last three of which I haven't slept for. I've never been so tired in my life. Please, I just want to shower and go to bed."

Ruby closed the gap regardless, and pulled her into a tight embrace, which Weiss almost collapsed into. "Here," she whispered," let me help you with that then."

She pulled the heiress' pack off of her back, then helped her take off her jacket. Weiss struggled against her at first, her pride undoubtedly preventing her from accepting help so easily. But she lacked the strength to do so, and quickly relented to Ruby's help.

Ruby smiled. "Hey, just finish taking off your clothes, I'll get the shower going."

After turning on the shower and leaving the water running hot, she walked back into the room to see Weiss struggling with her pants. She suppressed a giggle.

"Here, let me." The heiress sighed and stopped, and Ruby sat her on her bed and slid her pants off the rest of the way. She looked off to the side; Weiss only had compression shorts on under them. She stood the heiress up, then lifted her shirt off of her head.

"C'mon, shower time," she whispered. Supporting her girlfriend, she led her into the bathroom, turning her back as Weiss slowly shed her bra and shorts. The heiress stepped into the shower, but simply stood there with her head propped up against the wall, letting the water run down her bare back.

Dirty, brown water was already pooling on the floor of the shower, along with twigs and leaves.

Ruby frowned when she saw Weiss' complete lack of reaction to the water. "Now that just won't do," she mumbled to herself. An idea popped into her head, and with it, an opportunity to get closer to Weiss.

Before she could think twice, before she could stop herself, she ran back into the room and took off her clothes. All of them.

She hoped Weiss wouldn't mind, but she also realized the other girl would probably be too tired to care. In truth, she was terribly nervous about being naked in the same room as Weiss, let alone the same shower. She stopped outside the door to the bathroom and folded her arms across her well-endowed chest, nervous thoughts catching up to her actions. Was she really about to be naked, in the same shower, with _Weiss_? The heiress of Schnee Dust, her partner, her best friend?

Her girlfriend?

The girl she was in love with?

Was she ready?

But on the other hand, she reasoned with herself, the other girl obviously needed her help, and there was nothing she wouldn't do for Weiss. Besides, it wasn't as if she was going to actually do anything... indecent, Weiss just needed help washing her hair. The other girl had been struggling to even lift her own arms. Ruby knew that feeling, having experienced the same soreness after long gym sessions. She couldn't imagine how Weiss' body must feel after five days of near-constant exertion.

And in the end, all she wanted was for Weiss to feel good. She smiled, her mind made up.

She slid open the fogged glass door, stepped back into the shower, and lightly laid her hands on the white-haired girl's shoulders. The heiress froze at her touch.

"Ruby, what are you-"

"Shhh..."

She ran her fingers through Weiss' hair, and started washing the dirt and grime out of it. It struck her as a travesty that Weiss' perfect, flawless locks were sullied by the earth. It seemed as if they came from a higher, more beautiful place, and shouldn't be dragged down to this mortal plane.

As hesitant as she had been at first, Weiss quickly relaxed into her touch, as if she was welcoming Ruby's presence. Or maybe she was, in fact, simply too tired to care. She hoped it was the former. She squirted shampoo into her hands and rubbed it into the heiress' scalp with as much care as possible.

She struggled to suppress a grin; caring for Weiss' alabaster hair was quickly becoming one of her favorite things to do. It was just so _beautiful_, and touching it felt like a privilege that she wasn't deserving of.

As she worked, she struggled to keep her eyes off of the rest of her partner's body. And admittedly, she failed. She tried, she really did. But she couldn't keep from admiring Weiss' gentle curves, her petite frame and her pale, almost porcelain skin. She used her care of her girlfriend's hair as an excuse to lift the girl's hair away from her body, and her heart pounded rapidly as she gazed at Weiss' smooth, unmarked back.

_"How is she so perfect..."_ she found herself wondering._ "Mmm, except for that scar on her eye. That one mark, on an otherwise _flawless _body..." _

After she was one hundred-percent sure that Weiss' hair was as immaculate as the day she had arrived at Beacon, she let it fall back down, and then let her hands slip to her sides. As much as she wanted to touch Weiss' body, to feel that smooth skin against her hands...

She knew they weren't ready yet. And she would never take advantage of her in her nearly-unconscious state.

Never, in a thousand years.

So she placed her hands on Weiss' shoulders, and whispered in her ear:" Hey, you're gonna have to finish washing the rest of... uh, yourself. I'll be waiting in the room."

She exited the bathroom, changed into pajamas, and sat down on her bed. After a moment of thought, she pulled out Weiss' nightgown and laid it on the bathroom sink.

And then returned to waiting. And worrying.

She had never seen her partner this tired, in both mind and body, and she wondered what had happened to her out there. She knew her own extended field operation was coming up, and it made her slightly nervous. It wasn't as if she would ever fail it; she had far too much willpower. That wasn't vain or pretentious at all, it was a simple statement of fact that she knew to be true. It puzzled her sometimes, but she was aware of the indomitable drive that she possessed, something that kept her pushing onwards when all others had fallen by the wayside.

Something that kept her going, through everything that life threw at her.

Eventually, lost in her musings, she watched the bathroom door open. Steam wafted out into the room, bringing a semi-conscious, shuffling, nightgown-clad Weiss with it.

The white-haired girl made for her own bed without a second thought, but Ruby quickly sprang up and grabbed her arm. "Nah ah ah, you're sleeping in _my_ bed. Get over here you big _dolt_."

The fact that Weiss didn't even object to the insult attested to how drop-dead tired she was.

Ruby pulled her partner over to her bed and moved the covers aside. Without a moment of hesitation, Weiss flopped onto it. She didn't lay on it, she didn't slide onto it, she didn't even drop onto it.

She_ flopped_, like a dead merlin.

Ruby stood there for a few seconds, covering her mouth with her hand to contain the wild guffaws she was fighting. She took a deep breath to calm herself, then slid into bed beside her girlfriend.

The sheets were already warming to their collective body heat, and the covers were soft. She pulled Weiss closer, smiling when the smaller girl's body unconsciously pressed into her own. The white-haired girl pressed her face into Ruby's collar, and let out a long, drawn-out yawn.

"Ruby..."

"Yeah?" she whispered.

She felt Weiss' arms slide around and encircle her waist. "Thank you..."

"It's nothing Weiss. I love you." As if it was the simplest thing in the world. And maybe it was.

"I love..." another yawn. "You too..."

Ruby couldn't contain the bursting fireworks in her heart and the crazy fluttering in her chest, and so she let it out by humming the song her mother had taught her.

No matter what the future held in store for them, even if they were destined to end up apart... Right here, right now, they were _together_, and that made her throat tighten and her chest constrict.

She remembered what Weiss had told her once, about sleeping with someone. It hadn't seemed a big deal to Ruby, but to the heiress, it had meant so much more. If you were willing to sleep with someone, she had said, it meant you trusted them completely. After all, was there a time when you were more vulnerable than when you were asleep? If you slept beside someone, you trusted them with your life, and so much more.

And here Weiss was, asleep in her arms. The thought sent a warm thrill through her.

She ran her hands through her partner's hair in a rhythmic motion. It felt like silk, light and cool as it slipped through her fingertips.

And she felt Weiss' heart beat slower and slower, and felt her own slow to match it as their auras found eachother.

She hummed to herself, Weiss breathed slow and deep, and they both fell asleep in eachother's arms.

* * *

When Ruby finally awoke, she found herself alone. The first thing that struck her was how cold and empty the bed felt without Weiss in it. Painted stars glowed overhead, while outside the window the real ones were hidden by heavy sheets of grey-black clouds.

She sat up and waited for her eyes to adjust to the dark, but saw no sign of the heiress when she gained her sight. Restlessly, she slid out of the bed and placed her feet on the carpeted floor. She flicked on the bedside lamp, checking to see if Weiss had left her a note or something else to indicate her whereabouts. She hadn't.

Her school uniforms and combat outfit were still in her closet, and she had left Myrtenaster behind as well. That meant she hadn't gone far, at least, or wasn't planning on being gone long.

Ruby sighed, slow and pensive. There was really only one place that Weiss would be at this late an hour. She slipped on a pair of sneakers and unfurled her red cloak, then clipped it into place around her neck.

The light of the moon seemed pale and forlorn as it pierced the clouds. They were beginning to clear, and hundreds of bright, shimmering pinpricks shone through the holes in the cloud cover. It was shaping up to be as beautiful and clear a night as you could ask for.

Ruby strode across the silent, empty grounds of Beacon Academy, to the tall oak tree on top of the hill overlooking the city of Vale.

And there she was. Weiss was sitting on the ancient stone bench underneath the tree, with nothing but a sweater jacket over her nightgown. She looked somehow small and diminished in the patches of moonlight that shone through the gaps in the leaves, and Ruby's heart throbbed at the sight.

Taking her time she walked up the hill, the grass rustling with her passage and the warm breeze that blew through the night, carrying the clouds with it. She thought that Weiss had to have heard her, but the head of white hair that belonged to her partner didn't turn in her direction. She sat down on the bench, and Weiss jerked her head towards her with a surprised expression. "Oh, Ruby!"

The brunette shifted closer, until their thighs were touching. She kept her voice low, as to not disturb the peaceful quiet of the night. "You know, I can't really remember the last time we kissed here. I mean, I remember it, but I can't remember what the kiss felt like at all. You really surprised me."

Weiss stared out at the horizon. "Yes, well... I don't really remember it either. I was only going to tell you how I felt, but then my eyes closed of their own accord and it just... happened."

Ruby grasped the older girl's chin, and turned her head so their eyes met. Weiss' blue orbs sparkled in the starlight: shimmering pools of ice water with tiny motes of light dancing through them.

Nearly overcome with longing for the girl next to her, Ruby pressed her lips against Weiss' with so much force that it nearly hurt. Without a moment of hesitation the heiress deepened the kiss, their tongues meeting and swirling around eachother as Ruby pressed forward, and Weiss leaned back. Their hands roamed, grasping at whatever they could find. Softly, Weiss moaned. Or were the moans hers? She couldn't tell anymore. She couldn't tell much of anything outside of the world of bliss that she was lost in; the world she was shared with Weiss.

Their auras felt like they were on fire, their hearts pounded and their pulses raced as the clouds drifted away, and the night sky opened up above them.

Several minutes were lost to the heated exchange, then slowly the kisses changed, becoming slower and more heartfelt, but just as passionate.

Eventually one of them broke apart; Ruby wasn't sure who. But she smiled and laughed, and pressed her forehead to Weiss', who laughed and smiled with her.

Ruby leaned forward, pressing her lips to her girlfriend's ear. "Will you remember that?"

Weiss' smile grew wider and her features softened. She shifted onto the brunette's lap and leaned up against her. "I think I will." she whispered.

They sat like that for a while, staring out at the bright city lights that seemed mirrored by the stars above. Off to their left the bay opened up to the sea, the water dark and listless. It seemed to absorb the light that fell into it. Further toward the north, their right, they could see the distant shades of mountains on the horizon, vast shadows standing like lonely sentinels guarding against the wilderness beyond.

Ruby eventually broke the silence. "Nervous about your parents?"

"How did you know?"

"People don't get up in the middle of the night when they're feeling fine," Ruby said with a giggle.

"Well I wouldn't have gotten up this late if I had been getting any sleep out there." She sighed. "Thank you for what you did this morning though. I _suppose_ I should expect that sort of thing by now, but it still surprised me. I half expected to have to fend you off when I got back, but instead you helped me take off my gear, washed my hair, and even pulled me into your bed, and _then_ slept with me. I kind of took up your entire day." It seemed to Ruby as if she purposely avoided the part where they were both naked in the same shower.

Ruby smiled. "Naw, my schedule somehow cleared up the second you got back. Pretty weird huh?"

Weiss pressed her face into the crook of the taller girl's neck. "Stop being so nice to me..." she mumbled.

"What? Why?"

"I don't know... I don't really mean that. I just... sometimes it feels like I don't deserve you, deserve everything you do for me. You scare me sometimes."

Ruby felt a stab of pain in her chest. "Wha... I scare you? How, what did I do?"

"No it's nothing like that," Weiss rushed to say. "I just... you're so _open_ with yourself, and your emotions. You just, put yourself out there, for everyone to see, and the way you love is so free and... what's the word I'm looking for. _Unconditional_, that's it. You love unconditionally, and that scares me sometimes, because I can't be like that. Maybe one day, but not yet. And sometimes it makes me feel like I don't deserve you, and that you'd be better off without me."

Ruby kissed the top of her girlfriend's head, pressing her lips to her smooth, silk-like hair. "I already told you Weiss, it's not about what we deserve. It's about what we want, and what we're willing to do to get it. I _want_ you. I _want_ to do all those nice things for you. I _love_ making you feel good; it makes me happier than anything to see you smiling and curled up against me."

Weiss huffed, but snuggled closer to Ruby at the same time. "Fine then, be that way. But one day, I'll have to repay you somehow. A Schnee doesn't let a debt go unpaid."

"Kiss me."

"What?"

"Just do it."

"O...okay." Hesitantly, Weiss leaned up, and pressed their lips together for a brief, yet passionate kiss.

When they broke away, Ruby smiled. "There. Debt paid."

"What? Wait, no you can't just-"

"Just did. Debt's paid. I'm the one who you owed it to, so I'm the one that says when it's paid or not. And _I_ say it's paid."

Weiss frowned.

"Oh come on, don't be like that. Remember how beautiful I said your smiles are? I wanna see one of those."

The frown remained, but it seemed forced now.

Ruby grinned, leaned down, and began nibbling Weiss' earlobe. A gasp escaped from the heiress' pale lips, and her frown soon disappeared. But there wasn't a smile in its place. _"At least, not yet," _Ruby thought.

She started whispering in Weiss' ear, explaining, in detail, _exactly_ why she loved her, how she wouldn't give her up for anything in the world, and how she made her feel.

And slowly, ever so slowly, a smile grew on Weiss' starlit face.

Ruby leaned back, her eyes gleaming as they met the heiress'. "That's better."

The corners of Weiss' mouth twitched as if she was trying to get rid of the smile, but it remained. "Curse you..." she muttered, then rested her head on Ruby's shoulder. The brunette brought her cloak up and wrapped it around them both, then leaned her own head against Weiss'. She couldn't stop smiling either.

They sat like that until the first rays of sunlight started to peek over the distant mountains; featureless grey masses shrouded in mist and cloud. As they did, they set the snow-covered peaks on golden, shimmering fire.

And then together they watched the sunrise.

* * *

A week later, when Ruby returned from her own extended field exercise as tired and bone-achingly weary as Weiss had been, she found the heiress waiting for her. With a bathtub filled with hot water and rose petals, a tray of warm cookies and a tall glass of milk, and a soft bed, the sheets still warm from the dryer. And once Ruby got in that bed with a huge, satisfied grin on her face, Weiss joined her and held her as she fell asleep.

* * *

**- 2 months until summer break -**

Ruby turned and stood, brushing leaves and twigs off of her long-sleeved green shirt. She grimaced as she felt the dampness of her brown trousers; her makeshift team had been forced to wade through a stream earlier to get to their destination. And having wet socks, boots, and trousers was one of the worst things when you were in the field.

At least the sun was high overhead, and the day was clear without a cloud in the sky. But somehow, that warm light didn't penetrate into the forest itself. The tall, shadowed trees seemed to swallow the light, leaving the forest floor dark and treacherous. The only sound was of the wind sweeping through the valley below her, and a few birds, invisible as they were in the branches high above.

She unslung Crescent Rose and extended it into a sniper rifle. Sighting in, she took another look at the winding path through the valley. The road was old, and overgrown in many places. She was on a ridge-line overlooking it; the path led up to the ridge, then turned right. Her scope-sight passed over dark trees, shadowed glens, and, she fancied, a deer or two.

"Are you sure your friend is alright?"

She turned, startled, to see one of her two teammates for this mission. A black-haired, tall raven faunus stood several feet behind her with her head cocked to the side. "Ruby? Are you well?"

"Yeah," she forced out. "Sorry Jaerla, you just startled me. And to be honest, I'm kinda worried about Ren too. He should be back by now."

The other girl joined her on the ridge-line, squatting down on the balls of her feet and resting her elbows on her knees. Ruby couldn't help but stare at the black feathers that lined the girl's outer forearms.

"The feathers, do they bother you?" Jaerla's voice was high-pitched and musical, almost sing-song. "Most people stare at them, such as you are doing."

Ruby blushed and rubbed the back of her neck. "No, they don't bother me at all. Actually, I think they're pretty cool. I've just never seen anything like them before. Blake's got her cat ears, and Sun has his tail, but I've never seen a raven faunus, or a bird faunus at all now that I think about it."

"It is true: we are a rare breed." The faunus stared out along the path, her pale green eyes darting back and forth rapidly, as if they were dissecting the forest piece by piece.

Ruby took the opportunity to study the girl's face. Her features were thin and angular, even gaunt. The crown of her head was ridged with purple-black feathers, as well as the spaces behind her ears. And yet, she somehow managed to remain attractive, albeit in a mysterious, inscrutable way. Her eyes looked sad, even when she smiled.

Her gaze then wandered down, noting the girl's thin figure. She wore a black shirt with sleeves that ended at her elbows, and she remembered what Jaerla had said earlier about leaving her feathers uncovered. Something about them being free to feel the wind, that clothes stifled them. She wore dark pants with multiple pockets, and on her chest was a webbed rigging that held many pouches. Ruby could only guess as to what was in them. And finally, there was a large black quiver with two separate compartments on the faunus' back, as well as a slender black pole that Ruby assumed was her weapon.

"Do you study all your teammates so intensely Ruby Rose?"

"Wha-no, I mean, I was just... looking at your gear. Wondering why you need so many pouches. And stuff."

"For the most part, they hold various arrowheads. Along with other supplies. You never know what will be required of you, especially in an environment such as this, the field yes?"

"Um, yeah. You said arrowheads? Like, explosive or frost or something cool like that?"

The faunus cocked her head at Ruby. "Yes, I carry explosive arrowheads. And frost, and most other kinds of dust. Very useful in tights spots. You are a very curious girl Ruby Rose."

The brunette grinned, and returned to watching the road. "You could call me that. While we're on the subject of, uh, _you_, would you mind saying your last name again? Ms. Goodwitch said it once, but I didn't really catch it."

"Oddsdöttir."

"Odds... daughter?"

"Odds-dote-tir. It means, daughter of Odd."

"So... daughter of Odd... Your father's name was Odd?"

"It was, yes. You ask questions, many of them without aim or direction. Like an arrow loosed from a frayed drawstring."

"Oh... sorry."

The raven faunus smiled. "Do not be. Who knows where the arrow will land. Maybe in the heart of your mortal enemy, yes?"

Ruby smiled back. "Lucky shot then?"

"Luck, my friend, has nothing to do with anything."

"If you say so." She looked back out at the road. A chill wind blew over it, carrying dead leaves and dust. "Where are you Ren..." she whispered.

A howl split the air further down the path, followed by another, then another, and another.

"Beowolves," Ruby said. She felt her features harden, and anger swell in her breast. "Sounded like a pack, at least thirty, maybe more. And Ren went off that way."

"You wish to go in after him? We might share his fate, such as it is, if you choose that path."

"Anyone ever told you speak in riddles?"

The faunus grinned. "Yes."

Ruby chuckled. "No then, to answer your question. We'll give him a few minutes, and _then_ go after him. Ren can handle himself." She hefted Crescent Rose, sighting in down the path. "And actually, it sounds like he's bringing them to us..."

Jaerla leaned forward. "Ah. That is him?" She gestured towards a distant green figure on the road, seemingly moving in their direction.

"Yeap. Aaaand... yeap. He's got a pack of Beowolves on his ass."

The figure resolved itself into a black-haired man in a green tunic, sprinting full tilt down the road towards them. And, it should be mentioned, followed by a pack of ravenous black werewolf-like creatures, who ran on all fours and snapped at his heels.

The man waved his arms frantically in their direction.

"He wants help, yes?"

Ruby nodded, loaded a clip, and racked the bolt of Crescent Rose. Beside her, Jaerla pulled the black rod from her back, and it unfolded and extended into a jet-black compound bow with silver runes marking the sides, and wicked curved blades protruding from each end. She drew an arrow from her quiver and strung the bow in one smooth, quick motion.

"Do you want to fire first, or should I?" she asked.

"Are you serious? Ren's in trouble down there, and you're asking if-"

***TWANG***

The arrow flew like a bullet and pierced a beowolf through the chest with an audible **thwack**, and the beast went down and tumbled off the road. Ruby fired next, with a deafening crack that pitched another wolf into the dirt. They fired as quickly as possible, moving from one target to the next with quick, deadly efficiency. Some of the projectiles came within inches of Ren, but none failed to find their mark. Beowolves went down in ones and twos, their sprinting bodies falling in a tangle of limbs.

Ruby took the opportunity to use some of the different rounds that Weiss had given her for her birthday. She grinned at the effects of each one. The frost dust rounds turned a sprinting beowolf into a frozen statue that shattered when it hit the ground. A blaze dust round turned another into a living torch, that tumbled off the path and flailed around. The lightning from the shock dust round actually arced, turning three wolves into smoking, crackling tangles of limbs.

Even using her semblance to switch clips faster than the eye could follow, she couldn't use all of them in time. And even if she could, why use EMP rounds on a creature of flesh and blood? But she did use the HEDP rounds too, (high explosive dual purpose), and they actually did explode. Messily.

There were only a dozen wolves left, and she switched to the last, and possibly most interesting type of ammunition that Weiss had given her. The sonic rounds, the emitted a piercing sound high above the hearing range of a human. The ones that apparently made them go crazy.

She sighted in on one of the wolves at the front of the group chasing Ren, and fired. Crescent Rose kicked hard into her shoulder. She didn't actually see the round hit, but something strange happened. The Beowulf the round struck... well, went insane. It seemed to lose control of its limbs, and for a second it actually flopped around like a fish out of water. Then, it actually _turned_, and _tackled_ one of the wolves running past it. Ruby watched in amazement as the two beowolves rolled around in the dirt, tearing eachother apart with claw and fang. She was so intrigued that she almost forgot about the rest of them.

Shaking her head, she resolved to think about it later, and sighted back in.

Soon enough there was only one Beowolf left. Ren skidded through the dirt, turned a spin into a back-flip, and landed facing the last creature. He pulled his two automatic pistols, Stormflower, and dumped the entirety of both clips into the wolf as it sprinted past him. It dropped like a sack of flour. A sack of flour riddled with bullet holes.

Ruby found herself wondering, as she often did, which pistol was Storm, and which one was Flower.

He lowered his arms to his side and stood there, panting heavily in the dust thrown up by the running battle.

On the ridge, Ruby ejected the round in Crescent Rose's chamber and pocketed it, then retracted the weapon. Jaerla did the same with her bow.

"That thing's really cool," Ruby said. "Is it uh... is it just a bow? Or does it turn into a sword or something?"

"It does indeed, turn into a 'sword or something,' " she laughed. Unfolding the bow again, she pulled it apart at the center, and the weapon split and reformed until she was holding a single-headed axe in each hand. The axe-heads curved downwards, and they were marked with those same silver runes: combinations of sharp lines and swirling patterns. The only symbol that Ruby could identify was a raven in flight that was mirrored on each axe; the axe tips were their beaks. The weapons were connected at the hilt by what used to be the bowstring.

"Wow..." Ruby breathed. "So are those like, war axe-nunchucks?"

The faunus looked down at the weapons in her hands, considering and contemplating them. "Yes. We'll go with that."

"What's it's name?" Ruby asked. To her, this was one of the most interesting things about a person. She loved hearing what people decided to name their weapons, and the reasoning behind it.

"_Flammifer_," the other girl said with relish and awe in her tone. "But both axes have names too. Huginn and Muninn: the twin ravens.

"Ooh, that's pretty cool. So Flammifer? What does that mean?"

The faunus looked down the ridge, to where Ren was steadily climbing towards them through the undergrowth. "You do not know the legend of Flammifer?"

"Um... no? Should I have?"

The raven faunus cocked her head at Ruby and squinted for a moment. "No, you should not have. Few know the tales of the ancient days, yes? And fewer still remember them as they were. Suffice it to say he was a man of the distant past, one who explored many lands far and wide, including the borders of all four kingdoms; and even beyond. One day, long ago he set off in a great ship to sail the great black oceans of the north, and find what lies beyond them. He never returned. My people honor him with song and verse."

"Wow," Ruby breathed. "That's uh, really cool. I've never even heard of him. You'll have to tell me more someday."

Jaerla simply nodded in reply.

With a grunt, Ren pulled himself up onto the ridge. He walked over to them and knelt down, still panting. "You know you guys... could have... killed me, right?"

Ruby grinned and patted him on the back. "Nah, we're both _way_ too good shots for that. You were perfectly fine the whole time."

"You are injured?" asked Jaerla.

"Huh? Oh, no I'm fine." He stood up straight, took a deep breath and rolled his shoulders. "That's just the farthest, and fastest I've had to run in a long while. And I normally have Nora chasing me, not a pack of Beowolves."

"Wait, why does Nora chase you?" Ruby asked with a laugh.

"You'd have to ask her." He shrugged, then looked down at the ground. "You know, I thought it would be nice to get away from her for a while, get a little break. But now that we've been out here for a few days, I actually... miss her."

Ruby shot him a sad smile; she knew the feeling all too well. "I know how you feel. I miss Weiss too."

"Yeah, but you two are actually dating." He froze when he realized what he had just said.

Ruby's hand rushed to cover her mouth. "Ohmygosh, you know?"

"Uh... yeah. Sorry about that. It was supposed to be a secret. That we knew your secret."

Ruby felt the blood drain from her face. "Wait, **we**?! Who else knows!?"

He sighed, then held up a hand and began counting off fingers. "Me, Nora, Pyrrha, Jaune, Neptune, Sun, and Penny. Oh, and now Jaerla."

All of Ruby's energy left her, and she slumped backwards against a nearby tree. What would happen now? Would Weiss' parents find out? If that many people knew the secret, then there were undoubtedly more out there that Ren didn't know about.

"Crap..." she whispered.

He held out his hands to placate her. "It's not as bad as you think. We're the only ones that know, and _we_ only know because we've been your friends for the past two years."

"Yeah... but if all of you know, then there are probably more that you _don't_ know about. I mean... I can't let people find out Ren. I can't."

He nodded. "This is about her parents, right?"

"You know about that too?"

"Everyone knows about that Ruby. Or at least the rumors. She's the heiress of Schnee Dust. She's going to get more scrutiny than others. To your credit though, you two hide it very well. When you're around us, we can't tell that you two aren't just good friends."

A spark of hope flared up. "Really?"

"Yeap. In fact, the only reason all of us know is because of Sun. Well, Sun, and because Sun told Nora when they were drinking together. And Nora couldn't keep her mouth shut to save the world."

Ruby chuckled. "Heh, that's true if I've ever... wait, Sun? How did _Sun_ find out?"

Ren folded his arms across his chest. "According to him, he was... borrowing, the key to the cafeteria kitchen for a late-night snack, and he walked in on you two."

Ruby felt blood rush to her face, as she remembered the events of that night. "Oh... oh. What uh... what did he see?"

Ren shrugged. "Well, he saw you two kiss, apparently. He left right after that."

"That's really creepy actually." She shuddered at the thought of someone watching her with her girlfriend. She resolved to have a 'talk' with Sun later. Then another thought occured to her. "Oh man, now I'll have to tell Weiss... She is going to _freak_."

Jaerla cleared her throat, startling both of them. They had almost forgotten she was there: she had blended with the shadows. "I'm sorry, I don't follow. What is so bad about you and your partner being discovered together? I have never talked to Weiss Schnee except in passing."

Ruby sighed. "It's a long story Jaerla. Basically, if her parents find out about us, they'll take her out of Beacon. And then, I'll probably never see her again." She felt a thrill of fear as she spoke that last sentence, along with her firm resolve rising up to meet it. That _wouldn't_ happen.

Jaerla cocked her head at her, then emitted a strange hum that Ruby took to be an acknowledgement.

"Well then," Ren interjected. "If we're done here, that's a _lot_ of dead Grimm on the road, and they're only going to attract more. So how about we set up camp somewhere far from here? Sound like a good idea?"

Both girls nodded, and began gathering their gear. That finished, they all shouldered their packs and hiked south, leaving the bodies of roughly two dozen Grimm bleeding out onto the bloody, dusty road.

* * *

The fire crackled and sparked, sending bright streamers of light into the night air like escaping fireflies. The evening had started off clear and cool, but as night descended, the shadows deepened and seemed to grow, shrouding the forest floor in gloom. Tendrils of mist snaked through the undergrowth, and the trees themselves seemed to become enemies: their shadows morphed and twisted until they appeared as threatening figures in the deep dark.

Ominously, a blanket of dark clouds creeped across the sky, and the night found itself bereft of light of star or moon. The air grew heavy with the shadow of a threat.

Ruby and Ren had originally been against lighting a fire, seeing as how it would attract more Beowolves. But Jaerla knew the forest better than they did, and she had told them_ 'there are darker things than Grimm that stalk, and hunt, in the dead of night. And fire-light will stay them off more than anything else.'_

So, taking her advice, they had lit a fair-sized fire, and now sat in a loose circle around it on dead logs and the moss-covered stumps of long-fallen trees.

"So does anyone know what this forest is even called?" Ruby asked. She gathered her cloak tighter around herself to ward off the encroaching chill.

"It is called Orfalas. And it is old and vast," Jaerla answered. "The trees whisper to eachother, talking back and forth in the night. Can you hear them?"

Now that she paid attention, she realized she could actually hear more than just the chill breeze slipping through the trees. The branches of the forest groaned and creaked, even during lulls in the wind.

"Is it that... groaning noise they're making? Isn't that just old wood shifting and stuff?"

"To some, yes. But there is much more beneath the surface of what you see and hear in this place. The elder places of the world still have many secrets to tell, if you know how to listen."

Ren leaned forward into the fire-light. "Where did you learn all this Jaerla? All this old lore?"

"My people still remember the legends of old. We wander places like these, through dusk and dark, and have learned them and the hidden paths through them. We still follow the old ways."

"Who are your people? If you don't mind me asking," Ruby said.

"Wandering tribes of faunus called Eluvǐtae. You have heard of us? We stay far from your civilizations and keep to ourselves."

"I've actually heard that name before," Ren answered, "but that was a long time ago. So then why are you here, in our 'civilization?' " Looking around at the woods he was in, he added: "Okay, maybe not right now. But you know what I mean." Ruby chuckled.

"I chose to attend your Beacon to learn how to better kill the Grimm. And take that knowledge back to my people once my time with you is complete." The light of the fire gave her purple-black feathers a lustrous sheen. "But I will say that I have had a much better time of it than I had expected. Your ways are interesting, and I have learned much. The Eluvǐtae are distrustful of what they see as the outside world, yes?" She nodded, as if to herself more than anyone else. "I will try to change that."

Ruby nodded. "That makes sense. That's pretty cool, what you're trying to do."

"I think so too," Jaerla agreed. But her eyes had appeared to lock onto something on Ruby's waist. "Ruby, what is that cross on your belt?"

The brunette unpinned the silver cross from her belt and held it up. "What, this? Just something given to me by my mother. Well, the last thing she gave me really." Sad thoughts accompanied her words, but she rejected them and pushed them away. "Why do you ask?"

"I recognize it. Although I haven't seen one for a long... time."

That piqued Ruby's curiosity. "What is it?"

"Just a dead symbol of a dead god. Do not concern yourself with it."

The faunus apparently had dismissed the subject, as she didn't say anything more, and simply stared into the fire. But the glint in her eyes told Ruby that there was a lot more that she wasn't telling. She resolved to ask her more about it at a later time. When they weren't in a Grimm-infested, apparently sentient forest for one.

They sat in reflective silence for a time, although Ruby was watching the shadows at the edge of the ring of light at the same time. Glancing at Jaerla, she could see the attentive faunus doing the same. Somehow the night grew darker, and it felt like a stygian blackness was pressing in on them, constricting them.

She could feel them. Shadows in the deeper dark, creeping ever closer to the protective ring of fire-light. Making as little movement as possible, she picked up Crescent Rose from where it lay and placing it on her lap, giving Ren a pointed look at the same time. Judging from his hardened stare, he got the hint.

"Do you know how old the Grimm are?" Jaerla asked. She had returned to staring into the fire.

"Not really," Ruby said with a shrug. "I don't think anyone does. They've just always been there, hunting us as far back as we can remember."

"Oh, they are older than us Ruby. They have simply taken on their present form as a... response, to our coming into this world. Older than us, yes. Far older." Her eyes glinted in the fire-light. She whispered: "Protect the fire. Do not let them put it out, or it will be our end."

In a flash, she stood and turned, drawing Flammifer and loosing an arrow that whizzed into the deep black of the night. There was a muffled thwack and a squeal of pain, followed by enraged howls that split the night air.

The darkness itself seemed to birth the beowolves, as they came charging in twos and threes into the firelight. The light flashed in their crimson eyes and gleamed off of their wicked claws, and their fanged mouths bled drool as they howled.

Ruby deployed Crescent Rose, rushed to meet the first group of wolves, and ended them all in a single wide, sweeping slash. Ren leapt into the branches above and crouched there, releasing a hail of bullets into the darkness.

More and more wolves appeared, and it seemed to Ruby as if they were concentrated their attack on her, and she was forced to spin Crescent Rose defensively around her just to hold them off. Any Beowolf that rushed at her was reduced in seconds to a bloody tangle of rent limbs and severed bones.

"Ruby! The fire!" Jaerla cried out.

Risking a turn of her head, she could see several Beowolves sprinting towards the fire, in a clear attempt to smother it. If that happened, they were dead. They couldn't fight in the dark, not against this many wolves. Snarling, she used her semblance to flash away towards the fire, and ended up almost back-to-back with Jaerla, who was holding her twin axes low and at the ready.

"The ravens thirst for blood, beast!" Jaerla shouted. The first Beowolf threw itself at the faunus, and she sidestepped it and buried an axe-head in its spine. Spinning around a second one, she repeated the action. More wolves came, and the firelight flashed off of the runes on her weapons as she spun and danced around their attacks, her own landing with deadly force.

Ruby jerked her eyes away from the faunus just in time to duck under a wolf that hurtled over her, and she absently brought the edge of Crescent Rose up slightly so that the beast simply impaled itself on the scythe-blade.

She grinned, shucked the beast off, and spun to face yet more of the snarling creatures. Several of them dropped to the ground, tumbling into the undergrowth as they rushed forward and were met with a hail of fire from Ren, who was still unseen in the treetops.

Ruby met the ones that remained, ending each howling scream with a lighting-fast slash with her scythe and a burst of rage and savage joy. She _loved_ killing Beowolves. She lost herself in the rush of battle, in the crazy shadows that painted themselves on the surrounding trees as she fought, in the blood that shone on her blade in the fire-light, in the thrill she felt in her bones each time she ended the life of another murderous creature of darkness.

She spun, using her momentum to drive her scythe into the body of yet another Grimm, and as it fell with a muffled squeal, silence fell with it.

She panted, resting her blade on the ground and leaning against it as she took stock of her surroundings as if for the first time. She disliked it: the coming down from the high of battle. She felt spent and exhausted as the adrenaline left her bloodstream, and her body ached as it felt afresh the bruises and cuts she had received during the fight.

Bodies were strewn about the clearing, no more than fifty but no less than thirty, she estimated. Blood was spattered on the trees and undergrowth around them, and the quiet that replaced the ear-shattering sounds of combat seemed eerie and out of place. The smell of gunpowder swirled in the air, discharge from when she had fired Crescent Rose into the press of bodies around her.

Ren dropped from the trees, and when his absent weight shifted the branches above, the bodies of several Beowolves dropped with him. He shrugged. "Whoops. Forgot about them."

Jaerla wiped her axes on some loose ferns, attempting to clean the blood off of them. "That will be all for tonight, I think. They will not consider us such easy prey."

"They?" Ruby asked. "We didn't get them all?"

The faunus stared out into the blackness beyond the ring of light cast by the still-flickering fire. "I can see them: the remnants of the pack. But they have been cowed. They will watch us, but make no move against us. Safe for the night. That is what we are."

Ren ejected the spent clips of his twin guns, then slung them on his hip-holsters. "Seems like a waste of ammo to me. I mean, these things never would have found us if we hadn't made this fire."

Jaerla's reply was low, a whisper in the dark. "Think not of what we attracted with the light. But instead think of what we _kept away_."

Ruby grimaced and rested her scythe on her shoulder. Staring out into the black, shifting shadows beyond the fire-light, she remembered Jaerla's words from before. _'There are darker things than Grimm that stalk, and hunt, in the dead of night.'_

And she wondered what could be worse than Grimm.

And as she wrapped her cloak tight around her shoulders, as her body cooled off and the chill of night returned, she found herself missing her partner. She longed to see the heiress smile again, to hear her voice and feel her skin upon her own. Absently, she pulled a locket and its silver chain from under her shirt, where she wore it as a necklace. She opened it and stared at the pictures held inside. The left side held a picture of Weiss with her hands clasped before her, while the right held a picture of the two of them holding eachothers hands and smiling. The flickering fire-light drew her gaze away, and the bodies of the Grimm stuck out at her like burned, black patches on an otherwise flawless green blanket.

She wondered what Weiss would think of all this.

"We should move camp," Ren said, breaking her out of her reverie. She closed the locket and slid it back under her shirt.

"No," Jaerla replied. "We keep this fire up. There is no safer place than here tonight, surrounded by the bodies of Grimm to serve as a warning to others of their kind."

"Well... can we at least move them so we can have a place to sit?"

Jaerla smirked and cocked her head at him. "If you wish to do so, you may. I am fine standing. The tree that stands upright has deeper roots than one set askew by circumstance. And deep roots are not reached by the frost."

Ren frowned. "Has anyone ever told you you speak in riddles?"

The faunus grinned, and her white teeth glinted in the light of the fire.

* * *

_**Aaaand I'm back. Hope you enjoy this after the wait, I have another one that should be out in a few days or so.**_

_**First of all, I feel like I should clear some things up. I have 100% completely departed from the canon AS OF SEASON 2. I write based on everything we know/ found out in season 1. I don't watch season 2, I probably won't ever. **_

_**Man, nothing like guest reviews where I can't issue a rebuttal or clarify a question unless I put it in the authors notes. Please, if you're going to take the time to write a review, make a quick account so I can actually message you back. I message every single review back, no matter what, already.**_

_**The story departs from canon in a few other ways too. Yes, I'm aware that Ruby has a white rose emblem on her belt now. But it was a silver cross in the Red trailer, and I like that much better, and it's a huge tool I'm going to use in later sequels to this story. Qrow is still around in canon. I don't know if that was established in an episode of season 2 that I missed, but whatever. As for Cinder being defeated in a year, I just wanted to wrap that up quick. Because Cinder is not a main villain, nor is Torchwick. They're cliched, overused stereotypical super-villains with a boring, run of the mill, "take over the world" plan. They have no place in an original story. They dry it up and make it dull. **_

_**Ruby and Weiss do not "love eachother more than anyone in history ever." I never said that. But their love is particularly strong, mostly due to them being partners and spending every day with eachother for almost three years beforehand. **_

_**Ruby and Yang are better than everyone else in their class year because that's what main characters do. They get powerful and rise above everyone else. Neo from The Matrix, Goku from DBZ, Harry Potter from the book series/ film of the same name. Every main character from every anime ever. It's not exactly a new concept. Would you want to read a story about a random character in RWBY who just performs average, then goes on to run a Dust store or something? Main characters get more powerful for a reason. It makes things interesting.**_

_**Anyway, got that out of my system. Sorry for the long authors note. I'm gonna try this new thing in the next few chapters where I don't even include one at all, just let the story speak for itself without my somewhat abrasive personality getting in the way. This is also my first time ever writing an original character *shudder*, so I'd appreciate any feedback.  
**_

_**Please review, as always, I respond to every single one. Have a good night!**_


	11. Chapter 9 - Dreaming

_**This is my deepest dream**_  
_** This is how I show you my love**_

_**This is it speaking to me**_  
_** This is me speaking to you**_

_**My heart hurts and my heart breaks**_  
_** No one belongs here**_  
_** Not here where we leave our hearts**_  
_** The illusion for your weakened love**_

_** This is not what we were made for**_  
_** Far from the compassion we have known**_  
_** Far from the love that we have shown**_

_**My heart tells me that love will endure all things**_

_**This is my deepest dream**_  
_** This is how I show you my love**_  
_** So Beloved, let us love one another**_

* * *

**- 1 month until summer break - **

It had been roughly a week since Ruby's fire-lit battle with the Grimm when Yang cornered Weiss in the hallway leading to their respective rooms. The heiress was returning from classes, and it was a Friday, the first one of the month, which meant team night. Yang had been waiting for her, arms crossed, leaning up against the wall.

"Hey Princess."

"Oh great. _You_ look like you have something to say."

"If you'll stop walking and give me just a minute, then yeah."

Weiss huffed, but stopped and spun around so that she was facing the blonde, her ponytail whipping through the air as she did so.

Yang grinned. "Thanks for your time. So, I just really have one question. You've been dating Ruby for what, six months now? This _is_ your half-year anniversary, right?"

Weiss shut her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. "That dunce just can't keep her mouth shut. But yes. It is. Now can I go?"

"Ah ah ah, that wasn't the question. Got somewhere to be?"

"Yes, actually. I have to get dressed and ready for tonight. Ruby_ did_ tell you we're going to the orchestra right? Since it's my turn to pick."

Yang shrugged. "Yeah, she told me."

"Then why don't _you_ go get ready? Yang Xiao Long, an opera is a civilized affair. I will not have you showing up like a... like a half-dressed street hooker."

"Ooh, you wound me. But I would go put on my stripper make-up and hooker clothes, if you would just let me ask my question."

"Well just ask it then!"

"Why haven't you dumped Ruby yet?"

Weiss was so taken aback that her anger fled, leaving only confusion in it's wake. "Wait, what?"

"I asked why you haven't dumped Ruby yet." She kept a straight face, as if she were asking what shoe size Weiss wore.

"Why... why would I break up with Ruby?"

"Ding ding! Ladies and gentlemen, she's figured out my question, and after only two tries!"

Weiss was still too confused to be aggravated by the blatant jab. "No, I mean... do you want me to break up with her? Is that what this is?" _Now_ she was getting angry, and she could feel her brow furrow.

"Weiss, I would ask you if you're stupid, but I know you aren't. It's a very simple question."

"Simple? How is it simple?" Her shrill voice rose with her anger. "Where are you going with this?"

Yang only laughed in response to the heiress' obvious anger. "Oh my dust. Weiss. Why are you still with Ruby after six months? Why haven't you just dumped her yet, and moved on to some other chump dumb enough to believe that you actually like them? Like a rich asshole like you should've done long ago?"

Now Weiss was furious. "Because I love her!" she practically yelled. Her voice rebounded down the empty hallway.

Yang smiled, leaned forward, and patted her on the shoulder, and Weiss froze. "That's all I wanted to hear. I'm gonna go get ready for your opera now."

As Weiss stared in disbelief, Yang turned and strode down the hallway with her usual hip-swinging gait. As she neared the corner where the hallway turned left, she looked back at Weiss over her shoulder. "Just remember, you break Ruby's heart, and I break you."

Then she promptly turned the corner and disappeared.

Weiss slumped back against the wall and tried to make sense of what had just happened. Was that Yang's version of a blessing? Or was it a warning?

Distantly, she realized that the small indent that Yang had been leaning on was where Ruby had run head-first into the wall a few weeks ago. She couldn't remember why it had happened, and she wrote it off as a just another doltish Ruby 'accident'. The brunette had acted like it hadn't hurt at all. Weiss thought otherwise.

And then, the blonde's unmistakable, husky voice echoed back down the hallway. "And don't have sex with my sister unless she comes on to you first!"

Weiss turned and slammed her head into the wall. And yes, it hurt.

* * *

"Ruby!" Weiss called, her voice echoing out from the fogged-up glass doors of the shower. "You'd better not be thinking of wearing anything _casual_ tonight!"

"Oh come on!" the returning cry came from their room. "I already had my hoodie on and everything!"

A heavy sigh escaped from the heiress' lips, and she pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger. Ruby never seemed to learn anything about high society. "Ruby, this is an orchestra house, not a movie theatre. There is absolutely _no_ way that I'm letting you dress like a street rat tonight. This is _my _team night, and we're going to see an actual work of art. Something that took years to write, and months of preparation and planning. I will not have you show up in anything less than your best. You _are_ wearing that dress I picked out for you, and that's _final_."

There was a pause, and with growing aggravation, she wondered if Ruby was even listening to her.

Then: "Are you done with your speech yet?"

"Ruby, when I get out of this shower, I am going to_ strangle_ you, and then put that dress on your cold, dead body!"

Ruby's laugh echoed from the tiled bathroom walls. "Yeah, but then you'd have to undress me first!"

"I... well I..."

"Ohmygosh you are _too_ cute! Fine, I'll wear the dress! Don't get your panties in a bunch!"

Weiss slammed her head into the wall of the shower with a heavy thud. It hurt. She needed to stop doing that. Suddenly, the hot water running down her back wasn't helping her mood anymore.

"Of _all_ the insufferable people I've ever met in this short life," she growled through clenched teeth, "why did I have to fall in love with her?"

"I don't know," Ruby's voice came from behind her, making her jump, "you're the one who went gay for me."

Weiss' answering screech followed her as she bolted, laughing, from the bathroom.

* * *

"Forgive me yet?" A kiss to her cheek.

Weiss clenched her teeth as she sat facing the mirror, struggling to pin her earrings on: long silver bars that shined in the lamp-light.

"Oh come on? Please?" A kiss to the back of her neck.

She felt Ruby's arms snake around her waist, and she cursed her body's instinctive reaction as she leaned backwards into the embrace.

"I promise I'll behave at the orchestra?" A kiss to her bare back, a spot left open by her back-less, shimmering silver gown. _That_ one made her shudder.

Weiss sighed. "Fine, fine, I forgive you. Happy?"

Ruby leaned in front of her and pressed a short kiss to her lips this time. When she pulled back her silver eyes sparkled, matching the smile on her face. "Yeap. As long as you're happy."

Weiss couldn't contain a smile of her own. "Yes, I am happy. And if you behave at the orchestra, I'll be even happier. _If _you're good, when we get back, we can make some popcorn and watch a movie on my scroll."

"Ooh, that sounds great. What are we gonna watch?"

"We'll figure something out." Weiss finally pinning her earrings on, and turned around. "Now let me see you."

Ruby grinned and stepped back, doing a quick little twirl in her red cocktail dress. The hem fell to just below her knees, and the neckline was modest by any standard, but still seemed like it struggled to contain her ever-growing bust. The sleeves ended at her shoulders, and were ruffled. The silky crimson material clung to her womanly figure in all the right places, and Weiss felt her pulse quicken.

Ruby's hair was up in a tight ponytail with a crimson tip, and there was a red rose set just above her brow.

"Wow..." was the only word she could find. Ruby looked absolutely gorgeous.

The brunette clasped her hands in front of her and swayed back and forth with a nervous look in her eyes. "So... good wow or bad wow?"

"Good! Good, like... Ruby you look..." she searched for the word she needed to fully articulate just how heart-stoppingly beautiful her partner looked, but all she could come up with was: "You look hot."

Ruby blushed and giggled at the same time, and Weiss smacked her palm into her face as she realized what she had said. "Urgh. Not hot. Pretty, gorgeous, breath-taking, all those," she mumbled into her palm.

Ruby chuckled and lowered herself onto the heiress' lap. "Don't worry Weiss, I get the idea. You know, you don't look half-bad yourself."

Not half-bad? Not half-bad?! This dress was a _Tarence Zimmerman_, extravagantly priced, and well worth every cent. The priceless silver material shimmered in both sunlight and starlight, and while it _was_ loose around the shoulders and the legs, it didn't obscure her, as Ruby would put it, 'deliciously thin' waistline. And as a final touch it was backless, and would leave the smooth, pale skin of her back exposed to the cool night air. Or at the present, Ruby's hands. She was even wearing her hair down. She almost_ never _wore her hair down in public.

She glared at her partner. "I don't look half-bad? Are you serious? After all the time I spent with this make-up, and picking out this dress and..." she trailed off as she saw the twinkling in Ruby's eyes: an unmistakable glint of humor.

"I'm only kidding," Ruby whispered. "It's just a lot easier to say that than 'you look so beautiful it makes my chest hurt.' "

"Oh. Well I... oh."

* * *

The orchestra hall, a massive, oval shaped building, was down by the docks, on a large pier that stretched out onto the open water. The lights of the opera house glittered on the dark ocean as they approached, and the night air was cool on their exposed skin.

Once inside, Ruby stared around, in awe of her surroundings. The interior of the hall itself was a cavernous space, a vast open room with a gently sloping ceiling that fell down towards the massive stage at one end of the room. The rows and aisles of seats were arranged around the stage like a crescent moon.

Up above, the ceiling stretched up until it was lost in shadow. A latticework of thick wooden beams stretched across ceiling halfway up in a checkered pattern, serving as a mounting point for various speakers and spotlights. The entire hall was lit by clusters of golden lights that were concealed behind sheaths of wood, so that while the space was comfortably, if sparsely lit, the actual source of the light could not be seen. It gave the whole place a shadowy, yet somehow familiar feel.

The stage itself was well-lit, and the floor of it was made out of some kind of tan wood. It was wide, easily capable of accommodating an orchestra of a hundred people or more. The stage only reached about a fourth of the way to the ceiling however; the rest of the wall facing the open water was one gigantic glass window. The moon shone through it, making the whole place seem somehow surreal.

That's how it felt to Ruby at least, as she walked down a crowded aisle, following behind the rest of her team. Yang had decided to wear a strapless, ruffled lilac dress that only barely came to her knees. And of course, the cut was low enough to highlight her assets. This was Yang, after all. The rest of the team had left their weapons behind in a guarded holding area, but the blonde wore her gauntlets, in their retracted state, on her wrists. They looked like nothing more than gaudy, oversized bracelets. Her eyes matched her dress, and her hair matched her gauntlets. She drew stares and hungry glances, but they didn't worry Blake. Hell, if anyone was admiring how Yang looked that night, it was her faunus girlfriend. The two walked arm in arm, and the blonde's golden high heels, along with Ruby's and Weiss', clacked on the plastic-tiled floor.

The more literary-inclined member of the team probably drew the least amount of attention to herself, but only because black is outshone by other, brighter colors of the visual spectrum, such as red and yellow. Black doesn't tend to draw the eye. Nevertheless, it wasn't as if she wasn't beautiful in her own right. Her raven-black hair was curled and hung down to her waist, her feline ears proudly uncovered atop her head. Although instead of a dress, she wore a tuxedo. A black and grey affair of tailored silk, the coat hung down to her upper thighs much like a Zoot suit, and her coat-tails hung even lower than that. Shiny dress shoes and a smart black bowtie completed a look that blended sophistication and class.

Together, Team RWBY maneuvered around groups of well-dressed patrons that were either engaged in lively discussion, or just trying to find their seats. A few people openly stared at Blake's exposed faunus ears, but Yang met each prejudiced gaze with a furious glare, and the targets of her wrath seemed to wither and shrink under it.

Excited conversation echoed throughout the vast orchestra hall, mixing with the discordant sounds of the symphony sound-testing their various instruments. Horns blared, ,violins squealed, guitars strummed, clarinets sounded, and drums beat in time as each member of the huge group of musicians made sure their particular artifice of sound was up to par.

They found their seats and took them, Ruby on the far left, followed by Weiss, then Blake, then Yang, but only a minute passed before the older couple excused themselves to go find refreshments. Yang colorfully declaring that the only way she would make it through the whole affair was if she was 'smashed'. Blake went along to make sure she didn't get anything too strong.

Ruby shifted in her seat to find a comfortable position, which was actually quite easy considering the chairs were large, cushioned affairs with a good amount of leg room. Something which the ever-growing brunette found to be scarce these days.

Releasing a satisfied sigh, she sank back into the seat. "Um, Weiss?"

The heiress looked up from the program she had picked up at the door. "Yes?"

"What was this play called again?"

"It's an orchestra Ruby, and it's a piece written by Tayorn Malorkai. Eloquently titled: _Understanding What We've Grown to Be_. It has..." she looked down at the program, "three acts. _Repression_, _Denial_, and _Acceptance_.

"Sounds _super_ interesting," Ruby said with a completely straight face.

Weiss narrowed her eyes at her, trying to discern whether or not the brunette was being sarcastic. They stared at eachother, but Ruby began to show signs of breaking. She pursed her lips, and she began to tremble slightly.

Weiss' eyebrow twitched, and the brunette lost. She burst out laughing, bending over and clutching her sides. People around her stared.

"No cookies for a month."

Ruby stopped laughing instantly. "What! No! You can't!"

"Quiet, it's about to start."

As she spoke, the last few groups of people were taking their seats, and Yang and Blake, laden with drinks, dropped into their seats next to them just as the lights began to dim. Ruby, crestfallen, slouched over in the darkness.

A loaded silence fell with the warm darkness, a hushed expectance of the opening act. Blake passed Weiss two glasses of champagne, and the heiress passed one further on to Ruby, who accepted it with a gracious 'thank you.'

Weiss heard her partner take a sip. "Ooh wow this is good."

"Hush dolt."

Next to her, she could see Ruby slide down into her seat like a kicked puppy.

And then it began.

* * *

A lone flute sounded in the darkness, clear and piercing; almost cold. After a few chilling seconds, it was joined by a single clarinet. In contrast it was low and muted, and for an instant the two sounds were discordant, jarring like nails on a chalkboard. But then the twin sounds mixed and became one, joining eachother in perfect harmony, and Weiss felt her spirits soar as a trumpet joined the ensemble, adding it's own distinctive brand of ringing majesty. Then a french horn joined in, then a trombone, then a tuba and then a bass clarinet.

A few seconds passed with all the wind instruments blending together in a ringing clarion call, and then the strings joined in. Violins and cellos, viola's and double bass'.

Then finally they all joined together, and instruments of all kinds united a single uplifting note of grand majesty that seemed to shake the hall. The lights went up with the music, and Weiss felt a smile grow on her face. As a child, one of the few things she remembered actually enjoying was when her parents took her to the opera, orchestra, or ballet. She felt truly alive when she watched such beautiful endeavors of hard work and time come together, a feeling that was rare in those days. Before Beacon. Before Ruby.

As the grand opening note faded and the first act began, she glanced surreptitiously around to see how her teammates were faring.

Ruby actually looked interested. She was leaning forward, and there was a wry grin on her face that was mirrored in her twinkling silver eyes. It made her glad that Ruby, at least, was having a good time. They had never had all that much in common, her and her partner, but it was an encouraging thought that Ruby might come to enjoy the finer things in life. She'd just have to ease her in to them, she decided.

Looking to her right, she wasn't surprised. Blake looked interested, but detached. Yang looked like she'd rather be watching paint dry. Her glass of champagne was already gone. And she was eying Blake's.

The first act came and went, as most opening acts do. True to its title: _Repression_, it was, for the most part, muted and repressed. But as the act drew to its close, the instruments seemed to be battling with eachother, like two different ideas in your head, both vying to be heard and fully realized. But just as the music came to a crescendo, like the final moment before the start of a great battle... it died. The lights faded, and signaled the end of the first movement. Hushed whispers echoed through the massive space, following in the wake of the light. It left the audience unsatisfied and wanting more. But that was good, Weiss knew. After all, it was only the first act, and its job was to set the stage for the later movements.

The lights went up, and they revealed a great velvet curtain which had fallen over the stage. The whispering was replaced with a rolling applause, the sound of thousands of hands all clapping together. Everyone joined in, even Yang.

After it died, people got up and started to move about, stretching their legs and heading to relieve themselves or get food and drink. Yang, who already had a glazed look to her eyes, went off to get even more champagne. Blake followed her with a sigh.

"Hey Ruby, you want something?" Yang called back.

"Uh, water?"

"Kay. Weiss?"

"Nothing, thank you," the heiress replied, then turned to her partner. "So, what do you think?"

"I actually really like it," Ruby answered. "I didn't think I would, ya know at first, but it's actually really cool. There's something about the music I guess. It just makes you _feel_ things. Like..." She frowned, clearly trying to find the words she needed. "Like emotion in musical form? I don't know if that makes sense. And you can really tell that everyone playing put a ton of work into this. So yeah, it's awesome."

Weiss smiled at her. "That's the way I feel about it too. It's uplifting and inspiring: music on a scale this large. So many things coming together as one, harmonious whole. I'm really glad you're enjoying this."

Ruby smiled back. "I'm willing to give anything a shot, for you. I'm always dragging you off to stupid movies and stuff. It's about time we do something that you like."

"Ever been to a ballet?"

"Ooh, not too sure on that one. They always looked really silly to me. I mean, I would be fine, but Yang... we'd probably have to make that one a date."

Weiss felt a jolt of panic down her spine. "Ruby, don't say that out loud!"

"Oops," Ruby laughed. She covered her hand with her mouth. "My bad..."

The heiress frowned and stared at the stage. "Just be more careful. I know you're trying. But it's only for another month, alright?"

"Yeah, I hear ya." She leaned over and whispered in the heiress' ear. "I just really wanna kiss you right now. In front of allll these people."

Great. That was all she needed right now, to be blushing, with Ruby whispering in her ear, in the middle of the crowded orchestra hall. She covered her mouth and chin with her hand and stared at the stage, keeping her face as expressionless as possible.

Yang and Blake slid back into their seats, and Weiss noted with growing apprehension that the blonde actually had a glass of whiskey this time. She shot a pointed look at Blake.

"Not my fault," the faunus answered with a shrug. "She's twenty-one now, and I'm not her mom."

Yang laughed and rested her head on Blake's shoulder, who smiled slightly as the dimming lights signalled the audience to return to their seats.

As they did so, Ruby half-whispered, half-shouted over to her sister. "Yang! My water?"

"Hahha, I forgot! Sorry!"

The brunette frowned and plopped back into her seat, folding her arms over her chest as she did so. The lights faded to blackness, and all was quiet as the audience eagerly awaited the start of the second act.

* * *

She didn't remember how it started. She didn't remember how it ended. All she knew was that she came back to herself when the lights went down, and the hall once again filled with the sound of clapping hands. But this time it was deafening.

A man rose to his feet, the man next to him followed, and before she knew it, the entire, vast hall was giving a standing ovation.

Hell, even Yang was on her feet.

And even stranger, the emotion she was left with wasn't joy, or happiness, or even satisfaction.

The only feeling she was left with was remorse. Regret, and despair. So cold, so piercing, so _real_, that she couldn't do anything but applaud.

It reminded her of nothing more than how she had felt when she denied her feelings to Ruby. When she had forced herself to bury her emotions, give up on her dreams, and drown herself underneath a tide of duty and tradition.

And evidently the brunette felt the same way, because she felt her warm, calloused hand slide easily into her own in the darkness.

The feelings of regret fled like darkness from the dawn, and were replaced with a profound sense of happiness and affection for her excitable partner.

That was the beautiful thing about music, she reflected as Ruby squeezed her hand, especially on a scale like this. It was different for everyone. The man with tears in his eyes to her left had probably experienced something completely different, but it was no less profound or heartfelt for either of them. Music was personal; its shaped by your own experiences and views.

The applause faded, Ruby's hand slipped from hers, and people started either sitting down or moving off towards the rear of the hall.

Yang and Blake both decided to stay seated, but Weiss felt the sharp urge to stretch her legs. "Ruby, let's get something to drink."

The brunette simply smiled at her and nodded. They walked up the gently sloping aisle, moving carefully around other attendees as they headed for the bar. After waiting in line for a time, engaged in easy conversation all the while, they left with a glass of champagne, and Ruby's long-overdue glass of water.

"I'm telling you Weiss, that was just incredible. I've never felt that way before. I mean, with music at least."

"I know, I know," the heiress laughed. "That's the third time you've said it." She risked looking over her shoulder as she walked, shooting Ruby a warm smile. "I'm really glad you're enjoying it."

Turning back to the fore, she was hit with a strange feeling, a premonition almost. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something just felt... off. A space cleared in the aisle, and a well-dressed man approached her coming the opposite way. A rabbit faunus, judging by the floppy grey ears stretching out from his shoulder-length blonde hair. Just before they passed, he looked down, she looked up, and their eyes met. He smiled, and it chilled her to the bone.

And then he passed, and the moment passed with it. She nearly bumped into the woman in front of her, and a small amount of the champagne she was holding spilled onto the floor.

"Whoa, you okay Weiss?" Ruby asked from behind her.

"Yes, I'm... I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Positive. Let's get back to our seats."

They returned along with the vast majority of the crowd, and the lights dimmed lower as the last few people left in the aisles ducked their heads and quickened their pace, trying to get to their seats before the start of the third, and final movement.

_"Ah,"_ Weiss thought as she sipped her drink, _"the third act. Where it all comes together, where everything is wrapped up and the story comes to a close."_ Looking down at the program in her lap, she saw the title of the final movement.

_Acceptance._

The more she thought about it, the more the entire piece seemed to be a simulacrum, a musical embodiment of her relationship with Ruby. Repression, denial, and then... acceptance. Was it a coincidence that they had come here? She had nearly brought her team to a movie, after all. But the orchestra had caught her eye.

Was it fate? Maybe, she decided. But then, she would have to believe in fate in the first place.

The lights died, darkness fell, and she felt Ruby's hand groping in the darkness, searching for her own. She suppressed a chuckle and met her partner's hand with her own. Their fingers curled slowly around eachother.

The crowd sat in collective silence, awaiting the start of the final and most important act of all.

* * *

Only, it never came.

With no warning the lights flared on, and a collective gasp was heard around the room.

Standing front and center on the stage, in front of the orchestra, was a group of at least thirty armed men. Or faunus, to be exact.

Deer faunus, hawk faunus, dog faunus, turtle faunus, even giraffe faunus. All with different body types and sizes. All wearing different suits. The only thing that they held in common was a loaded assault rifle, and a grim smile.

"_Goooood_ evening ladies and gentlemen! I _sincerely_ apologize for this interruption to your regularly scheduled programming. But I just need a moment of your time, you understand?"

The deep, booming voice, projected somehow by the halls own speaker systems, clearly came from the man who stepped forward from the rest of the group. Only, not a man. A rabbit faunus, with floppy grey ears and shoulder-length blonde hair.

Weiss' blood went cold.

Beside her, Ruby leaned forward, and she heard the metallic *_clink-chunk*_ of Yang extending her gauntlets.

"Blake, get our weapons," Yang whispered, without moving her eyes from the stage.

The faunus nodded, and then slipped away. It was so smooth and sudden that if Weiss hadn't been watching her, she would've been inclined to say that Blake had never been there in the first place. Certainly no one else noticed, being far too fixated on the scene in front of them.

"Allow me to introduce myself," the voice echoed from the speakers. The rabbit faunus waved his hands animatedly as he talked, pacing the front of the stage. "My name is Charles. And I, and my friends here, are members of an organized group of faunus rights activists. Perhaps you've heard of us? We call ourselves the White Fang."

A collective gasp echoed throughout the crowd, followed by harsh whispers. Several people stood and tried to leave. As soon as they did, the White Fang members stepped forward and raised their rifles.

"Ah ah ah!" Charles shouted. "Don't even _think_ about trying to leave. Seriously, how rude is that? I've only just introduced myself, and you're already trying to beat feet out of here."

Shakily, the would-be escapees sat down. But the White Fang kept their assault rifles up.

"So, as I was saying, we are members of the White Fang. But don't let that scare you. Because I only want," he held a finger in the air, "_one._ Of you. Just one person, out of this entire crowd. And once I get this person, the rest of you can fly away!" He waved his hands like a pair of wings. "Free as a bird!"

Weiss felt a heavy sense of dread fall on herself like a hammer blow. She had a distinct feeling that she knew_ exactly_ who they wanted.

Ruby grabbed her hand and squeezed it tight. She looked at her partner, and saw a look of grim determination on her face. Evidently the brunette had come to the same conclusion. "I won't let them have you," she whispered. "I'm never letting you go, remember? Not now, not over."

Ruby's words sent a wave of calm over her. It would be fine, the brunette's firm grip on her hand told her. It would be fine, no matter what. Ruby was here. And so were Yang and Blake. They would find a way out of this.

"So," the rabbit faunus continued. "one person. That's it." A wave of nervous glances made the crowd look like a rippling ocean. Nobody knew who the person would be, and nobody wanted it to be them.

Charles stopped pacing. He stood straight, and faced the crowd with a wicked smile. "Weiss, Schnee!"

A dead silence fell on the room. Then, Weiss saw a pair of eyes land on her, from a man in front. Then another. Then another, and another, and another. People turned, following the gazes of the people around them.

And now, every single person in the room was staring right at her. She felt like a deer caught in headlights, like a rabbit snared in a trap. There was no escaping now.

She almost started to tremble, but then felt something else. Ruby's warm, calloused hand. It steadied her, brought back her confidence. She was _Weiss Schnee_. Heiress of the one of the most powerful companies in the world, and raised to be strong and unflinching in the face of danger.

She stood.

"Ah, and there she is! The lovely Ms. Schnee, heiress to a corporation build on questionable business practices, _dangerous_ working conditions, and _slave labor_. And daughter of one of the _worst_ perpetrators of faunus rights abuse since the Human-Faunus wars."

The crowd still stared at her, judging her, condemning her. They wanted to give her up, if only for their own self-preservation. She could see it.

But she had hardened herself, and wouldn't back down now. She raised her shrill voice so that it carried to the stage. "Charles, although obviously that isn't your real name, I have to ask what exactly you plan on doing with me once you have me. Blackmail? Are you going to try and get my father to give your people better wages?"

Charles stared at her, but didn't say anything.

"Extortion? Is that it? Want to force my father to pay you? How many lien? A million? Ten million?"

"We're not doing this for money, Ms. Schnee," he laughed. "And we're not trying to blackmail your father, as satisfying as that would be. We're doing this because it has to be done."

"And what _exactly_ are you doing then?" she shouted back.

He smiled, slow and chilling. "Killing you," he said.

As nervous as she was, she couldn't help but smirk. So _that_ was how it was going to be. "And, I might add, trying to do it with a minimum of collateral damage," he said, indicating the crowd with a sweep of his hand. "So that's why I'm giving you one, emphasis on one, minute. Say goodbye to whoever you need, call whoever you need, whatever. And then you come up to the stage. And I kill you."

"And if I don't?"

He held up a small black cylinder with a red button on top. A detonator. "Then I set off bombs all over the theatre."

The crowd gasped, and several people tried to make a run for it. But this time, the White Fang didn't hold their fire. Stuttering bursts of assault rifle fire ripped through the hall, and the men and women trying to run through the aisles dropped in sprays of blood.

"Oh, what a shame!" Charles shouted with a laugh. "What a shame! See? See what happens when you try to run?"

The crowd stayed in their seats now, but gripped the edges of their chairs and sent frantic glances around the room and to eachother. The smell of gunpowder hung in the air, and several people were sobbing.

Weiss stood resolute. She was clenching her fists together so tightly that she drew blood. But she ignored the pain. It was nothing compared to the anger burning in her chest. She swore to herself that not a single member of the White Fang would leave the hall alive.

Ruby stood next to her. And judging by her burning gaze, she felt the same.

She didn't even have to look at Yang. She could_ feel_ the intense heat wafting from the blonde.

"So," Charles started. "You've got one minute. Otherwise I blow the bombs."

Weiss' mind raced, her thoughts sharp and calculated. He was bluffing, she was sure of it. There was no way he would have been able to plant bombs in the orchestra hall, their security was too tight. She had ensured it personally.

"You're bluffing," she shouted.

Unexpectedly, he shrugged. "You're right."

_That_ took her by surprise. "Wait... what?"

"You're right, I was bluffing." He laughed, but there was no humor to it. "I was gonna blow the bombs anyway."

Ruby exploded into action, shooting towards the stage in a blur of crimson. But she was too late. The rabbit faunus thumbed the detonator.

Weiss shot her hand out towards Ruby, Yang shouted something incomprehensible, and the world disappeared in a flash of white.

* * *

Heat. Powerful, burning heat.

Light, the kind that turned the back of her eyelids red.

Screams, hundreds of them, all of different pitch and intensity. Some right beside her.

She opened her eyes, and awoke to a world of flames.

Spurned into action by the fire, she got to her feet. Her side hurt like hell from where the blast had slammed her to the ground, but other than that, she was fine. She spun, taking quick stock of her surroundings.

The orchestra hall was on fire. People ran past her, scrambling in a mad rush to escape with their lives. Others weren't so lucky. Broken and burnt bodies lay all around her, and she realized that she had survived solely due to her aura. These people didn't have that luxury.

Anger burned in her blood, rushing through her veins as she looked upon the dead. These people were _innocent_. The White Fang had no right to take their lives, or anyone's for that matter. She remembered her previous conviction. They would _pay_, she thought with gritted teeth. Every single one of the White Fang would pay for this.

Her eyes were drawn towards the stage. Half of the White Fang had broken off and were charging towards her, using their rifles as bludgeoning tools when screaming people got in their way. She had a few minutes before they reached her, at least. The other half were lighting Molotov cocktails, and chucking them into the few parts of the hall that weren't yet in flames. Charles, the rabbit faunus leading what was now obviously a kill-mission, was nowhere to be seen.

Yang's distinctive voice sounded near her. "Weiss! You're alive!" The blonde rushed up to her, gauntlets deployed and at the ready. Her dress was singed, and she looked absolutely livid. But she sounded relieved that the heiress was alive, and Yang's concern touched her.

"I'm fine! Where's Ruby? And Blake?"

Yang jerked her head in the direction of the entrance. Her speech was rushed and breathless, mostly because of the smoke starting to clog the air. "Blake's still getting our weapons, I hope. Haven't seen her. Ruby flew off towards the stage. That girl can do the dumbest things, I swear."

The screaming crowd surged around them, two solid stones in a rushing river of bodies.

"Blake should be back soon, but you've got to find Ruby," Yang said.

Right as the blonde finished speaking, four White Fang members shoved their way through the press of screaming people. Their rifles were slung on their backs, and they each carried single-edged steel blades with a hooked tip. Weiss' immediate reaction was to avoid them; she was still weaponless. But the White Fang spotted them almost immediately, and grinning, advanced on them. People shouted, and a space cleared in the crowd as they saw the raised weapons. The White Fang spread out around them in a half-circle, Yang dropped to a fighting stance, and Weiss stood her ground, in the middle of this flaming hell that painted flickering shadows and the walls and made her sweat.

The heat of the flames was nothing compared to the fire that burned in her breast. They would _pay_.

Yang shot towards them with a blast of Ember Celica, and Weiss charged with her, enraged. "You animals!" she screamed.

The White Fang were caught off guard by the fury of their assault, and the first one fell to a crushing blow to the head from Yang. The blonde flowed into a series of kicks and punches, meeting the blades of two of the remaining three.

The last raised his sword and swung at the heiress, three times in rapid succession. She spun and dodged each one.

With his last strike he overextended, and Weiss kicked out and swept his legs out from under him. He dropped his sword, and it clattered to the floor. She didn't give him time to recover, and aimed for his head with the heel of her shoe.

In the blur of the smoke however, she misjudged her target and missed, and he shot his arm out and grabbed her heel, pulling her to the ground. He rolled on top of her and she scrambled to get away, but his sheer strength was telling, and he overpowered her and got both hands around her neck.

He squeezed, and the world began to blur. "Animals! We're just animals to you, aren't we!" he shouted. She scrambled for purchase, even punching him repeatedly in the head. But his eyes were burning with rage, and he didn't even flinch.

This wasn't right, she was a swordsman, not a brawler. She couldn't win this. Where was Yang? Where was Blake? His grip tightened, and she could feel her own struggles weakening.

Where was Ruby?

"I'm going to choke the life out of you, you heartless bit-"

The pressure relented, and she gasped as her vision cleared. The tip of a hooked blade was protruding from his chest. _"Gambol Shroud," _she thought with relief, as Blake's head appeared beside his. His eyes went wide with shock, and blood leaked from the corner of his mouth.

"No, she's right." Blake spoke in a low monotone. "You_ are_ animals. You don't deserve to be called faunus."

The raven-haired girl shoved his body aside and reached out her hand, which Weiss gladly took. "Th- ***cough cough*** - thank you," she managed to say.

Blake smiled at her and hauled her to her feet, then pressed something solid into her hands. Weiss' fingers instinctively curled around the familiar grip. Myrtenaster.

"You're welcome," Blake replied. "Now go find Ruby. I've got Yang."

Looking over to her right, she saw that Yang was now battling not two, but _seven_ White Fang members. The blonde was a blur of motion, blocking sword blows and delivering bone-shattering kicks and punches in return. Her hair was on fire, but the flames were her own. She was more than holding her own, she was _winning_.

But more White Fang faunus were appearing from the flames, and she was going to need help soon. Luckily, she had Blake. That was what partners were for after all.

She looked back at Blake and nodded. The cat faunus clasped her on the shoulder, then spun around and rushed off to help her girlfriend.

Weiss took a deep breath, or as much of one as she could in the smoke-filled air. The flames were spreading, and most of the ground floor was engulfed in blazing orange fire. The crowd, thankfully, had mostly fled. The few people that remained were either dead or unable to move. But she couldn't stop to help, as much as it hurt to ignore them.

She had to find Ruby. That single, overriding concern filled her with a fearful energy, almost as powerful as the adrenaline coursing through her veins. She _had _to find Ruby.

She took off running towards the stage, picking a path through the flames, which was difficult in the choking, smoke-filled air.

As she ran, she looked at every motionless body she passed, and she was struck by a growing sense of dread. What if the next body was Ruby's? What if the girl was already dead?

_No_, she thought with gritted teeth. She vaulted over a row of chairs that was the only clear path through the flames. No, Ruby was still alive. She had to be. She _had_ to be.

As she moved further into the orchestra hall, she began to feel a presence. It grew stronger the closer she moved to the stage, and she instantly recognized it. Ruby's aura.

Now guided by her partner's spirit, she broke into a dead sprint towards where the feeling was strongest.

And stopped. There was a literal wall of flames between her and Ruby's aura.

Thinking quickly, she cycled Myrtenaster's revolving chambers, then shot a blast of ice at the feet of the wall of fire. The ice was dust-created, and much harder and colder than regular ice would be. Instead of melting, it created a gap in the flames long enough for her to dive through a wall of smoke.

She had no way of knowing what was on the other side, but she didn't care as long as it brought her to Ruby.

She cleared the flame wall, but hit the ground hard, smacking into a chair that had been toppled into the aisle. She quickly scrambled to her feet and looked at the aisle in front of the stage.

Her eyes narrowed, and dread warred with relief as she looked at the scene before her.

Ruby. She was there, but clearly not conscious. She lay in the middle of the aisle on her side, but her breathing was regular and steady. That wasn't the problem, however.

The problem was the five White Fang members surrounding Ruby, aiming their rifles not at the brunette, but at her. They had been waiting for her. Someone had known that she had come for Ruby.

"Ready to die bitch?" one of them shouted. The anger returned, burning through her body and filling her limbs with a frenzied energy. They were all going to die.

Just as they opened fire, she finished making the symbol of a protective glyph, and it sprang up in front of her; a white, shimmering circle inscribed with runes of safety and deflection.

She ran forward with the glyph held in front of her, and the incoming rounds bounced off of it with a sharp cracking sound and spun away into the fire.

The sound of that many weapons discharges so close made her flinch, but she ducked her head and kept the glyph up. And then she was amongst them.

They dropped their rifles and pulled their swords, but they were too late. Blade-craft was_ her_ territory.

Before the first one could get his sword fully out of the sheath on his back, she lunged forward and stabbed her rapier through his neck, withdrawing it just as quickly. He stumbled back and clutched his neck as blood poured through his fingers. One down, four to go.

The man she had stabbed was in the middle of the group, and she shot out a glyph of force that threw the two men to her right to the ground. Now she only had to fight the two on her left, at least until the other two picked themselves back up. This all happened in the space of a few seconds.

The two still standing launched towards her with a battle cry and swung their swords in wide, sweeping motions. They clearly broadcasted their strikes. "_Amateurs, good,"_ she thought.

Easily parrying one blow and dodging the other, she threw up a repelling glyph behind her with her free hand. When the other two picked themselves up, it would be a few seconds before they broke through it.

One of the two men facing her was clearly overzealous, and instead of fighting with his partner as he should have, he charged her. She sidestepped him and his blade, and swept Myrtenaster at his legs as he rushed past. Blood sprayed, and he toppled over with a scream. The second man cried out in rage and raised his sword for an overhead blow, but she was quicker. She aimed Myrtenaster and shot him in the face with burn dust.

Instantly engulfed in flames, he dropped his weapon and stumbled backwards, screaming in horror. In his panic, he tripped backwards and fell into even more flames. Two down, three to go.

The man whose leg she had cut was struggling to rise, and she quickly strode over to him and stabbed him through the back of the neck. Three down, two to go. Each kill filled her with grim satisfaction. These men had already murdered dozens, and they had meant to kill her and her team. They had meant to kill _Ruby_. She didn't feel an ounce of remorse.

With cries of rage, the two remaining White Fang members finally bashed their way through her repelling glyph, which was little more than a temporary barrier at best. But still, she was grateful for her semblance. She might not be as fast as Ruby, or be able to fight as long as Yang could, but with her glyphs, she could do so many things they could not.

The last two White Fang charged her. She stood her ground.

It all happened in a second. One swung at her, a wide, horizontal slash from her left. The other didn't bother to use his sword, he simply launched into a flying kick.

She ducked the kick and the slash. At least there was one benefit to being short. Coming up, she stabbed the man using his sword through the chest. The blade easily pierced his sternum, and he gasped like she had struck him with a hammer. His charge carried him past her as she slid the blade out, and he crumbled to the ground.

The man who had attempted to kick her stumbled past, not expecting to miss. He spun and faced her. She spun and faced him. Then she shot him in the face with a canister of lightning dust.

A bolt of eye-achingly bright lighting leapt from her blade and struck him, and he howled in agony as he fell. Smoke rose from his twitching body. One down, one to go.

She glanced to her right, at the man she had stabbed in the chest. Never mind, he wasn't moving. One down, none to go.

She lowered Myrtenaster and took a deep breath, working to calm her racing nerves. The adrenaline was starting to fade, and her head cleared slightly. What wasn't clearing however was the smoke. It was growing thicker, and made it hard to see and even harder to breath. The deep breath she took sent her into a coughing fit.

But Ruby, Ruby was the priority. She stumbled over to the brunette's body and, kneeling by her side, immediately noticed that her breathing was irregular now. The smoke! Lacking consciousness, she wasn't able to control her breathing, and her body was sucking the tainted air in without heed.

She had to get Ruby out of here. In a frenzy, she looked back towards the entrance of the orchestra hall, which now seemed an impossible distance away. All she saw were sheets of flame. The fire was beginning to creep up the walls now.

A burst of inspiration struck her, and she looked up, remembering the network of crossbeams stretching across the ceiling she had seen when they entered. They were still there, a checkered network of wide wooden beams that made the ceiling look like a chessboard. Hopefully the smoke hadn't risen up yet.

She shook Ruby and shouted her name, hoping the brunette would wake so they could escape this burning hell together. No such luck; Ruby was still comatose.

She would have to carry the girl out then. With a grunt, she put her arms beneath Ruby and lifted. Dust, the girl was heavy! She dropped the brunette, sheathed Myrtenaster, and this time slung Ruby onto her back instead of trying to simply carry her bridal-style.

A fireman's carry. Fitting, she thought with a wry grin.

With Ruby over her back, she used one hand to hold the brunette's legs in place, and another to form the hand-signs she needed to create a glyph of propulsion at her feet. She forced all of her concentration into it; it had to be perfect. One small mistake and it wouldn't launch them high enough, and they'd fall back into the flames. Or it would send them too high, and they would hit the roof.

With a grunt of effort she finished the glyph, and prayed to whatever gods there were that this would work.

She triggered it. With a dizzying burst of vertigo, her stomach dropped into her gut and she shot up into the air. Up, past the flames, past the lights on the walls, past a gap in the crossbeams. And just as she thought she had overshot them, her momentum bled off and she landed right in the middle of one. Ruby's weight proved too much for her, and they both dropped to the ground.

But they were safe, for now. The smoke was much thinner up here, and she took several deep breaths. Then she stood, made sure Ruby's body wouldn't roll off of the beam, and looked around. Above her, the domed roof curved up to a point. Below, the entire hall was engulfed in flames, including the only exit. To her left and right the crossbeams ran into a wall, and behind her they did the same. There was only one escape: the giant glass window that stretched up from behind the stage and reached to the ceiling.

Somehow, she would have to get both of them out that window. Maybe she could use her glyphs to propel them to the roof, or use one to halt their fall into the bay full of water that she knew lay below.

Either way, she had to get there first. There was still a good distance between her and the window.

Her mind made up, she bent down to throw Ruby over her shoulder, but then heard the _thunk_ of feet landing heavily on wood.

She jolted her head up. Standing between her and the window, was a rabbit faunus. With two floppy grey ears, shoulder-length blonde hair, and a wicked smile. And a hooksword in each hand.

* * *

"Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise." His voice was deep, which seemed at odds with his sharp face and fluffy rabbit ears. I see you got your partner to safety. A feat truly worthy of the final movement of this orchestra. And what a final act it has been, wouldn't you agree?"

"You're a monster," Weiss growled through gritted teeth. "Do you have any idea how many people you've killed already?"

He looked at her like she had just told him that two plus two equals purple. "Are you serious? You think I'd order my men to fire on these civilians, then have them throw _Molotov cocktails_ into the crowd, and not have any idea what I was doing? What kind of fantasy world are you living in? Oh, let me guess. I must have some sort of mental disorder, and I don't realize what I'm doing, right?" He laughed, but it was more a low chuckle with no humor behind it. "Trust me," he finished with a wicked smile. "I know _exactly_ how many people I've killed. And soon, you're gonna be another number on the body count."

"No, I'm _not_. "Weiss replied with rage burning in her veins. "I'm going to kill you, and I'm going to make it _slow_. You're going to suffer like these people have."

Charles unbuttoned his coat, top to bottom in slow, deliberate motions. "Well then, you're going to have a hard time of it. You didn't think was going to be easy did you? The hero defeating the evil villain and saving the townspeople?" He finished with his coat, and dropped his hands to his sides. His fingers twitched. "There's a little twist to this story _princess_. I already killed the townspeople."

He moved like lighting. Whipcord-fast, he reached inside his unbuttoned coat, and when he pulled his hands back out, he clutched throwing knives in between his fingers. Her only warning was the glint of cold steel, and she threw herself to the side as ten steel daggers whizzed through the space where she had just stood.

She landed on the wooden beam to her right, barely keeping her balance. She looked back at her opponent, but he was already right in front of her, swinging his hook swords at her head.

She barely managed to bring Myrtenaster up in time to catch both of the blades. He swung the swords so fast, it sounded as if they ripped the air itself. This was bad, she thought. He already had her on the back foot, and he was pressing his advantage hard.

She swept her leg out in attempt to knock him off his feet, but he nimbly leaped over it and crossed his blades together like a pair of scissors, then brought them together. Weiss did a quick backflip over the point where the blades met, putting a bit of distance between them.

She stood at the ready, Myrtenaster held out before her and her other arm resting at her side.

"Enough of the dirty tricks, okay?" Charles said. He had to raise his voice to be heard over the roaring flames. "Let's make this a simple contest between swordsmen. Or swordswoman I guess, in your case."

Weiss didn't bother to answer him. With her free hand, she created a glyph at his feet that would launch him into the air.

He glanced down at the last second, and leapt backwards. The glyph detonated, but did nothing but blast the smoke in the air upwards.

"Ooh, that's nifty. I guess dirty tricks _are_ still on the table. Eh, all's fair in love and war."

Weiss was still too furious to reply. She simply stared him down and waited for him to make his move. That was how she would have to beat him, she realized. He was fast, almost as fast as Ruby, but with that kind of raw speed, you were bound to make a mistake sooner or later. And she would be waiting.

She had at least one thing to be grateful for: so far he hadn't made any move towards Ruby's prone form. Either he thought she was dead, or he simply didn't care enough to finish her off. Actually now that she thought about it, he probably had something sick and twisted planned, like forcing Ruby awake to see Weiss' lifeless body.

"Oh come on, this is the part where you say something cool like: 'Have at you wretch!' No?" He frowned. "Well you're making this no fun."

"Shut the fuck up," Weiss growled, "and _fight me_."

He cocked his head to the side and grinned at her. "Well alright then."

And then suddenly he was in front of her, swinging his hookswords with a deadly combination blinding speed and brutal force. Weiss fought with equal ferocity, but also with a measured grace and skill. Where he was blinding speed and aggression, she was discipline and refined, near-perfect technique.

Their swords clashed together over and over, several times a second, and the sound of crashing steel filled the flaming hall. Weiss concentrated harder than she ever had before, forgetting conscious thought and letting all her countless hours of training with Myrtenaster take over. He pressed forward as he attacked, moving her backward step by step.

The most unnerving thing of all was that his face didn't match the fury of his blows. Somehow, he didn't even look angry. That stupid grin was still on his face. She was fighting for her and Ruby's lives, and he was _enjoying_ it. Her anger boiled over, more than she thought possible, and even though she knew that it was a mistake, she let her rage take over her actions. It filled her with vitality and energy, and her strikes became brutal, powerful things.

For a few seconds he was caught off guard, and actually began moving backwards, retreating from the raw fury of her blows. But the problem with fighting with only your anger is that it prevented you from thinking, from making rational decisions. If she was thinking, she might have put a glyph under his feet while he was focused on fending off Myrtenaster. If she was thinking, she might have shot him with a canister of dust, which he wouldn't have been expecting either.

If she was thinking, a lot of things might have happened. But she fighting purely off of rage and instinct, and her technique grew sloppy and uncoordinated. And instead of _him_ making a mistake, like Weiss had planned, _she_ made one.

It was only a small slip-up, a tiny error that she would have easily corrected if she was training back at Beacon. But this wasn't Beacon.

She lunged forward just slightly too far, while he still held one of his swords off to the side. He backed up and, overbalanced, she stumbled forward. He lashed out with his second sword, hooked the tip through one of the holes in Myrtenaster's ornate crossguard, and pulled. Off balance as she was, Weiss couldn't pull back.

He yanked his arm backwards, her hand slipped from the rapier's grip, and Myrtenaster went sailing through the glass window behind him, shattering it with a resounding crash.

Her eyes went wide with shock, and terror wrapped its clutching fingers around her heart.

She frantically tried to backpedal, but he kicked out with the heel of his boot, striking her kneecap at an angle. The bone broke with a sickening _snap _and she cried out in agony, but he grabbed her arm and held her upright before she could fall off the beam.

"How's that for a dirty trick?" he laughed. "Bet that hurts like a bitch huh?"

Weiss' scream of pain turned into one of rage, and with her free arm she punched him in the side of the head. His head snapped to the side, and she managed to grab ahold of one of his rabbit ears. She didn't really know what she was planning to do with it, but in her desperation she pulled it to the side as hard as she could.

He roared in pain and anger, and their eyes met. His were full of rage, and hers went wide as she fully realized the danger she was in. It was incredible how quickly things had gone wrong. Not twenty minutes ago, she was simply enjoying a night at the orchestra. And now she was about to die.

With one arm he held her up on her tiptoes, and with the other he punched her in the face, _hard_. The blow nearly knocked her out, and the world became hazy and indistinct. She could feel blood run down her chin, and realized her nose was broken. But it was all strange, as if she was in a dream. The pain was muted for some reason; it didn't feel real. The flames didn't look real, the smoke didn't look real. None of it did anymore.

She thought about laying on her bed with Ruby, eating popcorn and watching a movie together, and-

He punched her in the head again, and the world went black.

* * *

Ruby awoke from a world of darkness to the sound of clashing steel.

She immediately tried to stand, but gasped and gave up when a sharp pain pierced her skull. She clutched at her forehead as the splitting headache grew worse, worse... and then disappeared almost entirely.

The sound of colliding blades still echoed, and smoke filled her nostrils. She could also feel a dull warmth, slowly rising in intensity. Daring to open her eyes, she saw that it came from the flames that were steadily climbing the walls of the orchestra hall. Wait, how did she get up in the rafters? She clutched the beam she was on; the wood was somehow still cool and firm to her fingertips.

The headache returned, partially at least, and she groaned and shut her eyes. She focused on trying to remember how she got up here, but try as she might, the last thing she remembered was the White Fang, and a bomb going off. Actually, there was more... she remembered leaping towards the stage with a burst of her semblance... and she remembered Weiss trying to stop her... wait, Weiss!

A particularly grating blow of steel on steel caught her attention, and she looked over to see who the combatants were, suddenly worried that one of them would be her white-haired girlfriend.

And as fate, or divine providence, or whatever spiteful deity looked down on her that day would have it, she was.

Weiss was fighting for her life, against that same rabbit faunus who had detonated the bombs. Ruby snarled and reached for Crescent Rose, but started suddenly as her hand clutched at empty air.

_"Crap, I never got Crescent Rose from Blake!_ _Well then, guess it's gonna have to be the hard way,_" she thought.

She struggled to her feet, careful not to fall off of the wooden beam, and took off running towards Weiss. And immediately fell. She barely brought her hands out in front of her, otherwise her skull would have rebounded off of the unforgiving wood.

Growling in frustration, she reached down to her knees and ripped the sides of her dress, so that she could freely move her legs this time. _"This is the _last_ time I let her convince me to wear a dress." _

She looked back up, praying to that same spiteful deity that her slip-up hadn't cost Weiss her life. She was just in time. To see Weiss suspended in the air by her arm, weaponless, blood streaming from her nose.

She was just in time to see the rabbit faunus pulverize her face with a right hook, just in time to see Weiss' body go limp.

Just in time to see him sneer with contempt, and suspend her off the edge of the beam by her right arm.

Over the empty space below. Over the reaching flames that threatened to consume what had become her entire world.

Ruby exploded into action, bracing her feet on the forward edge of the beam she stood on and launching herself towards Weiss. She activated her semblance, pouring everything she had into it, and time seemed to slow. She moved so fast that the world became an indistinct blur around her. She had never moved like this before.

She could only see one thing clearly, and that was Weiss. The girl seemed to hang in the air, suspended in time. The rabbit faunus' hand was clearly open; he had released her to fall into the fire. But Ruby would die before she let that happen.

In slow-motion, so slow that she could see individual beads of sweat slip from her arms as she flew, she drew closer to Weiss and the rabbit faunus. And as slow as she was moving, she had all the time in the world to plan her next move. She grinned as she brought her foot out in front of her, in a sort of flying side kick. This was going to feel _good_.

Closer, closer, closer, and then it happened. The heel of her shoe struck the rabbit faunus squarely on the right cheek, and she watched in slow-motion as his skin rippled and his head snapped to the side. And with her arms held out in front of her, she grabbed ahold of Weiss' body before it had a chance to fall more than a few inches.

And then she was past the rabbit faunus, whose body began to turn into a spiral that would send him falling into the all-consuming flames.

She kept flying, Weiss clutched securely to her chest, with nothing now to stop her.

Nothing but the gigantic glass window that opened to the bay. She had forgotten to plan this far. But there was no stopping now.

Even in slow-motion, she winced involuntarily as her outstretched foot hit the glass and shattered it outwards. Spinning fragments of glass whizzed through the air around her, reflecting the night-time lights of the city. She watched in fascination as the shimmering shards collided with eachother, and shot out into the empty space beyond the window.

And then she looked down. Luckily they had already cleared the short stretch of pier behind the orchestra hall. They would hit water now.

The only problem was that they were still about five stories up in the air.

_"Crap,"_ was all she could think. Her semblance wore off, and time began to speed up again. _"Crapcrapcrapcrap!"_

And then she was free-falling, trying all at once to bring her legs together and point them downwards at the water, and trying to make sure that Weiss' limp body did the same.

And then she hit the black, churning waters of the bay.

* * *

A few harrowing minutes later, filled with swimming, gasping, sputtering, and trying to keep Weiss afloat, she finally dragged them both onto the grey concrete lip that was the edge of the bay. Luckily the tide was high. She didn't know what she would have done otherwise.

She lay on her back with her chest heaving, one hand clutched securely around Weiss' arm just to make sure that the other girl was still there. That she hadn't lost her. The stretch of waterfront sidewalk she was lying on was lit by a line of streetlamps, and their harsh white glow stung her eyelids.

Dimly, she could hear the sound of rushing feet. She rolled onto her front, rose up onto all fours, and coughed out a lungful of water. People started to surround her, asking if she was okay, calling for help, and then a few made the mistake of trying to touch Weiss.

Ruby snarled at them like a cornered animal, and they backed away in surprise. "Stay away from her!" she half-shouted, her voice dull and raspy.

It wasn't as if she would deny Weiss medical attention, but she had no way of knowing if the White Fang had agents in the crowd itself. This would be the perfect opportunity for one of them to finish the job.

She struggled to her feet, wincing as her vision swam. "Just, please, stay back." She looked around at the confused crowd. Her back was to the water, and it felt like they were pressing in on her, pressing in on Weiss. Her protective instincts overrode all rational thought.

Taking a second look at the crowd, she saw that they were all either attendees of the orchestra, or passers-by from the street. No one that looked like they had any medical training.

"Are there any medics here?" she asked. "Any first responders?" Not waiting for an answer, she looked down at Weiss. The girl was breathing steadily, and the damage to her face looked to be superficial, aside from her bent, clearly broken nose. But her leg was canted at a strange angle. The bone itself seemed to be bulging at the skin, and her knee was already swelling.

Weiss' dress of shimmering silver was ripped and torn in places, and soot-stained. And knowing Weiss, that was what would probably anger her most. Not the broken leg or broken nose, but the ruined, fabulously expensive dress. _"What had she called it? A Terry Zimmerman or something?" _Ruby wondered. She sighed, and contended herself with the knowledge that Weiss was at least alive. They were both alive, miraculously. The adrenaline was leaving her system, and Ruby felt light-headed and weak in its wake.

"Hey. Hey, girl, are you listening?"

"Huh?" She snapped her head up, not realizing that the man addressing her from the crowd had been doing so for some time already. "I said there's fire trucks and ambulances over that way." He pointed towards the front of the orchestra hall. "If you need help, I can carry the girl..."

Ruby flashed him a smile. "Thanks, but no thanks. I've got her."

She had carried Weiss out of the burning hall and across the bay; there was no way she was letting a stranger carry her for the final stretch. She reached down and picked Weiss up by the shoulders and knees in a bridal carry. She attempted to keep the girl's broken leg at a normal angle, but that was difficult considering Weiss was little more than a dripping, limp body at this point.

She cradled Weiss to her chest and walked forward, and the crowd parted for her, staring at them as she passed.

_"Let them stare,"_ she thought._ "That's all they can do is stare. _I'm_ the one that rescued the princess today._ I'm_ the one with Weiss in her arms."_

She smirked. The heiress definitely owed her a tray of fresh-baked cookies for this. Probably more.

She carried Weiss to the nearest ambulance, which was in a line of vehicles from the fire department, police department, and more. As soon as she drew near, two men in blue first responder uniforms rushed over to take Weiss from her arms.

She glared at them and told them in no uncertain terms what would happen if they tried to take her. If they wanted to work on her in the ambulance, that was fine, but _she_ would carry her there.

They relented almost immediately, and led Ruby to the open back of an ambulance, a red, blocky vehicle with flashing lights. And it wasn't the only one. The entire vehicle-crowded intersection was illuminated by flashing blue and red lights; they flashed off of the walls and windows of the nearby storefronts. Firemen and police officers rushed back and forth, receiving orders from their respective chiefs and moving to carry them out.

In the distance, she could see giant streams of water lashing at the orchestra hall, which was now completely engulfed, top to bottom, in roaring flames. The blazing light cast deep shadows at her feet, and at the foot of every person and emergency vehicle there. It was a world of sharp contrast, blinding red and blue light warring with pitch-black shadows. She held Weiss a little closer.

As carefully as she could, she stepped up inside the ambulance and lay Weiss on the gurney, then stepped back. Immediately, the medics got to work on her. One dabbed her face, telling the other there wasn't much they could do about the broken nose here. Once at the hospital, they could set it. She had a deep gash in her side that Ruby hadn't seen, and that they quickly cleaned and disinfected, then stitched up.

As for her broken leg, after setting it and splinting the bone with a plastic splint, they informed her that Weiss would, obviously, need a cast. Which, once again, could only be done at the hospital. The only problem was that there were far too many injured people, and not enough ambulances. They couldn't make a run back to the hospital just for one girl in non-critical condition, when there were still dozens of people with far far more life-threatening injuries.

Ruby agreed as much, but did so reluctantly. The medics told Ruby to keep Weiss' leg in the splint, and that she should be awake soon; they couldn't be completely sure, but it appeared that she hadn't suffered any head trauma. They gave her a heavy blue blanket, and sent her off.

As soon as Ruby, now carrying Weiss, cleared the ambulance, not one, but two wheeled gurneys approached at speed. As they were being loaded into the ambulance, Ruby couldn't help but stare at the patients. One, a tallish man in his late forties, had second degree burns all down the left side of his body. His eyes were glazed over from the Novocaine gas he had been given; otherwise Ruby knew he would probably be screaming. The second gurney held a woman, whose left leg looked mangled and twisted. There were also pieces of wooden shrapnel clearly embedded in her chest; they poked out of her expensive-looking navy blue dress.

Ruby stood in quiet contemplation, clutching Weiss to her chest. Part of her was still in shock, not wanting to believe that tonight was real. The other, rational part hoped that all the injured people would be okay. She hoped that the orchestra building could be saved. But above all, she hoped that every single White Fang member who had entered the building that night was dead. And she hoped that Charles, the rabbit faunus who led the operation, had still been conscious when he fell into the fire.

As wrong as it felt, she wished she could have heard his screams. Maybe that would deaden some of the pain she was feeling; that dull ache that clutched at her heart and squeezed like a vice. The pain that all his _victims_ had felt, and were still feeling.

It was incredibly selfish, she knew. So many others had lost loved ones tonight... but she was elated beyond belief that Weiss had survived. If she hadn't... she didn't want to think about it. Just entertaining the prospect made her heart burn and her headache start to return.

So she settled for sitting down on a nearby sidewalk, setting Weiss down next to her and resting the white-haired girl's head on her lap. She stared at the burning orchestra hall and stroked her girlfriend's hair.

Several minutes later, the orchestra hall came down.

Everyone started shouting all at once, and then people rushed away from the burning, creaking building like ants from a flooded anthill. The building gave out a massive crack, and then all at once the roof caved in, sending a massive gout of sparks shooting up into the night sky. Ruby watched it happen with dull, lifeless eyes. It _still_ didn't seem real. This was supposed to have been a simple night at the orchestra, nothing more. The burning sparks in the sky mingled with the stars before they burned out, and for a brief instant the number of bright lights up there in the black infinite tripled. The embers were indistinguishable from burning balls of gas billions of light-years away.

The thought was somehow sobering to Ruby._ "As if I wasn't in a bad enough mood already," _she thought.

There was more shouting, closer to her, but this time it was a voice she recognized.

"Oh holy shit Ruby! You're alive!" Her older sister was running to her, with Blake in tow.

"Yang?" Ruby stood, and it struck her that she had completely forgotten about Yang and Blake until now. She quickly wrote it off as her just being too concerned with Weiss, and knowing that the two could easily handle themselves. No group of White Fang was going to take her sister down. Hell, they wouldn't have taken _her_ down either, if she hadn't been an idiot and rushed off to the stage without waiting for her partner... Then she realized that Weiss being injured was totally, completely, one hundred percent _her fault_. If she had just stayed back...

She almost started to cry, but then Yang had her wrapped up in one of her trademark bear hugs, completely crushing the life from her. Her headache immediately returned with skull-splitting intensity, and she cried out in pain.

"Ruby! What's wrong?!"

She clutched her head, and struggled back down into a sitting position to the right of Weiss.

"N-nothing..." she managed to say. "Just a massive headache... and you made it come back..."

"Oh... crap. Sorry." Yang sat down to her right. Blake followed, sitting next to Yang and putting a hand on the blonde's shoulder.

"So... other than that, are you okay? And..." Her eyes traveled to Weiss' prone form. "Is Weiss gonna be okay?"

"She'll be fine," Ruby muttered. It was all she could manage at the moment. The headache was lessening, but not by much. She probably had a concussion, she realized. Maybe she should have let the medics examine her after all.

"She's got a broken leg and her side's cut up pretty bad, and that _fucking rabbit bitch_ knocked her out... but they said she's gonna be okay."

Yang spoke softly. "They?"

"Yeah, the medics. They can't take her to the hospital right now, she's not critical condition or whatever. And they apparently have a _lot_ of those tonight."

"Yeah," Yang said, as she looked back at the collapsed mass of flaming wood and stone that had once been the orchestra hall. "They do. We tried to find you guys once we dealt with the rest of the White Fang, but the smoke was too thick. We had to get out."

Ruby nodded. "Makes sense. I woke up in the rafters. Weiss was fighting that rabbit faunus, and I grabbed her and busted out the window into the bay. Almost drowned too," she finished with a chuckle.

Blake spoke up, in her usual dull monotone. "Ruby, that faunus... did he survive?"

"He _better_ not have," Ruby growled. "I kicked him into the fire myself."

The faunus nodded, then returned her gaze to the street in front of her. "I used to know him."

Yang snapped her head up. "Wait, you did? When you and... I mean... when you were part of the White Fang?"

Blake nodded. "I always knew he was a sadistic bastard, but _this_... even I don't know what they've become anymore."

"Did any of them make it out alive?" Ruby asked softly.

"No," Yang said. Her eyes burned with fury, and Ruby felt a brief wave of heat emanate from her sister. "Me and Blake killed _every single one_."

"That's good," Ruby said. She got caught up in a brief coughing fit, but when it was over, her head felt better. She thought she might even be able to stand.

The three of them, or four, if you counted a very unconscious Weiss, sat in silence. They listened to the sounds of the night: the screams of the wounded; the shouts of the firefighters and police officers; the roar of the flames; the piercing shriek of the sirens. None of them spoke. There didn't seem to be anything left to say. Maybe later, when their minds and bodies had recovered, but not now. Not while the orchestra hall still burned. Not while Weiss lay on the ground in her comatose state, wrapped in a heavy blue blanket.

Ruby was staring out beyond the flames, at the ocean, when she heard a weak, tiny voice from beside her. "Ruby?" it asked.

Ruby froze. It took her a second to realize who the voice belonged to. Then: "Weiss!"

The heiress' eyes were open, and her expression pained. The only thing Ruby wanted to do at the moment was to wrap Weiss up in a crushing hug, but she realized that would _probably _be bad for a broken leg and a lacerated side. So she settled for taking Weiss' hand, whose fingers curled around hers.

"What... what happened?" the heiress asked.

Ruby's voice hitched. "Nothing... I mean, I woke up and grabbed you before he could drop you and broke the glass and we fell into the water and then I dragged you here, and took you to the ambulance and they said you were gonna be fine but I wasn't sure and, and..." She broke off, unable to continue.

Beside her, Yang laid a hand on her shoulder. Blake looked on in silence.

Weiss smiled. Her voice was still little more than a whisper. "So... you saved me."

"Um... yeah. I guess so."

Weiss looked up at the sky, her expression turning thoughtful. After a while, she spoke again. "Ruby?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you pull me into your lap? I'm pretty sure my leg is broken."

"Well it is but... Weiss, there's people everywhere... are you sure?"

The heiress nodded, slowly. "Yes. I'm sure."

Ruby let out a tiny squeak of happiness, then grasped Weiss by the shoulders as carefully as she could. With infinite care, she lifted her girlfriend up and pulled her into her lap. The blanket slipped off while she did so. Almost immediately, Weiss closed her eyes and leaned back into her. She turned to the side with a grimace, but snuggled into the crook of Ruby's neck.

Ruby sighed, and she felt as if the world had finally returned to normal. Even through her dress, in the chill of the air, she could feel Weiss' warmth. And even though the orchestra hall still burned, she felt at peace.

Yang and Blake remained silent, but the cat faunus rested her head on her partner's shoulder, who pulled her into a one-armed embrace.

Once more they sat in silence, all of them quite happy to simply be alive.

And then off in the distance, down the near-empty street to their left, came the approaching glare of headlights. Ruby shifted her head to look at them, and Weiss, disturbed from her rest by the movement, followed her gaze.

And then seemed to shrink. "Ruby, take me off your lap. _Now_."

"Wha? What? But I-"

"Now!"

Ruby didn't question her further; Weiss sounded as serious as she had ever heard her. Gently, she lifted the heiress off of her lap and set her on the sidewalk to her left.

The headlights grew brighter, and then dimmed completely; the driver had seen them and shut them off.

Life turned back into a dream. In a daze, Ruby watched a sleek, black limousine glide down the street, and then stop directly in front of them. The stark silver hood ornament was a stylized snowflake. The exact same symbol that Weiss wore on the back of her jacket. The symbol of the Schnee Dust Corporation.

The passenger and driver doors opened in sync, and two large men in dark suits and darker sunglasses stepped out. _"Why are they wearing sunglasses at night?"_ Ruby wondered. _"This_ must_ be a dream." _One man's head was shaved, the other sported close-cut, chocolate brown hair.

The four of them watched as the two men moved to stand in front of them. They stared at Weiss for a moment, then chocolate hair spoke. His voice was a deep bass. "Mistress Schnee."

She stared back at them, her face hardened and resolute. "Yes?"

His next words hit Ruby like a hammer blow. "We're here to take you home."

It wasn't a dream anymore. They were here to take Weiss away.

Weiss sounded just as shocked as she was. "What? _No!_"

"We're under direct orders from Lord Schnee himself. If you won't come willingly, we're authorized to simply drag you there, if it comes to that." He smiled, but there was no warmth behind it. "I'd rather it not come to that."

"But it's not summer break yet! I still have a month left before I finish my third year at Beacon!"

"Believe me, Lord Schnee is quite aware of your situation. However, considering what happened tonight," he indicated the remains of the orchestra hall with a broad, sweeping gesture, "I'm sure you'll understand that he places the safety of his daughter over her studies at a _Hunting Academy_." He spoke 'Hunting Academy' as if the words left a bad taste in his mouth.

Ruby took the chance to finally speak up. "But she can't go just yet! Look at her, she needs to go to a hospital!"

The bald man looked at her like she was a particularly disgusting bug he had just found in his kitchen. "I assure you that White Castle's medical facilities are better than any you can find in Vale. She will be _fine_."

As argument after argument fell flat, Ruby looked over to Yang and Blake for help. They looked as outraged as she was, but there wasn't any point they could bring up that Weiss couldn't. It was _her_ father, after all, that was making the call. Weiss was notoriously close-lipped about her family. To everyone but Ruby, at least.

But as she looked pleadingly at Yang, she saw salvation approaching, in the form of a blue-uniformed medic from the ambulance.

"Gentlemen, what seems to be the problem?" He seemed calm and collected, even when faced with two intimidating, dubiously armed men. But then again, Ruby reasoned, he was probably used to crisis situations.

"None of your business sir," chocolate hair said. "You just go back to your ambulance."

"No sir, I can't do that. It seems like you're trying to take this girl somewhere?"

Both men nodded simultaneously.

"Well you _can't_. She has a laceration on her left sternum and a broken leg. I can't let you have her before she receives proper medical care. And not wherever it is you're going. _Here_, in Vale." he finished, pointing at the ground.

Ruby sighed in relief. What could they say to that?

But they didn't say anything. The bald man simply pulled out a black cell phone. He flipped it open without looking, then hit a button. Ruby could faintly hear a ringing tone, which stopped almost as soon as it started.

A voice sounded from the speaker, but Ruby couldn't make out the words, or even the tone of the speaker. But she assumed the worst, and a leaden weight dropped into her chest.

The bald man nodded. "Yes Lord Schnee. Yes. We have a small delay. There's a man I need you to speak with, if you will."

Then he held out the phone to the medic in blue. The man stared at it for a second, then reluctantly took it. He held it up to his ear. Nobody moved. Ruby felt frozen.

Then slowly, the medic nodded. "Yes Mr. Schnee. I understand. Thank you sir. Goodnight."

He handed the phone back to the bald man, then spun on his heel and started back towards the line of emergency vehicles without a backwards glance. Ruby watched him go. That was it then. There was no stopping them now. Weiss was leaving. Who knew for how long.

But then the heiress spoke. This time, her voice was strong and clear. "I'll go with you. But on one condition."

Chocolate hair replied, his expression as neutral as ever. "That depends on the condition, Mistress Schnee."

Weiss reached over and laid her hand on Ruby's shoulder, and her heart stopped. "I'll go if I can take her with me."

Both men were silent for a moment, then looked at eachother. But then chocolate hair nodded, and Baldy pulled out the cell phone again and briskly strode to the other side of the limousine. The medic returned with a pair of crutches, and handed them to Weiss with a brief apology. Then he ran back towards the ambulance.

"Weiss..." Ruby whispered." Are you sure about this?"

The heiress simply nodded.

Ruby looked over to Yang, but the blonde too, just nodded and smiled at her. "Don't worry Ruby," Yang said, "Blake'll take care of me. You worry about your girlfriend. _Someone_ needs to."

Weiss glared at the blonde, and Ruby grinned. She really did have the best big sister.

And a few pulse-pounding moments later, Baldy stepped back around the limousine. He returned to his place beside chocolate hair, then looked at Weiss.

"She can come."

* * *

"..."

"..."

"Does it hurt?"

"Does what hurt? The broken nose or the broken leg? Or the laceration on my side?"

"Um... all three?"

Weiss smiled through the pain. "They hurt. But I'm alive."

Ruby smiled back. "That's good. I mean, crap, not good that it hurts, but good that you're alive..."

Weiss shook her head in amusement.

They sat across from eachother in the shadowed interior of the limousine, as it traveled out of the city of Vale and towards the city's air station. From there, a private airship would fly them over the ocean to a private landing pad in Atlas, where_ another _limousine would take them through the mountains, and finally to White Castle, ancestral home of the Schnee family.

Weiss had further explained that although it wasn't Schnee Dust's corporate headquarters, all the important business deals and decisions were made there. The company's actual offices were spread out through the rest of the civilized world.

Weiss stared out the window for a while, at the night-bright city sliding by. The windows were tinted, and she could see out, but no one could see in. She would have been completely comfortable then, in the privacy of the limo, if it weren't for one thing. The driver's compartment had its own window that looked back into the passenger room. The two men in front could watch them at all times. That was the reason she sat across from Ruby, and not next to her. Or in her lap.

She fingered her crutches for a while, while Ruby closed her eyes and leaned back into soft, cushioned leather. _Crutches._ She would have to use _crutches_. She hated the idea; she saw them as nothing more than a sign of weakness. And it was social suicide to show weakness when you were the daughter of one of the richest, most powerful men in the world of Remnant. It was like jumping into shark-infested waters with an open wound.

But she knew it was either the crutches or a wheelchair, and_ that_ was out of the question. And if this cloud had a silver lining, it was that the only person who had seen her with them so far was Ruby and the rest of her team. If she was lucky, she would be off them before she left White Castle.

But as for how she would be leaving White Castle...

She still planned on telling her parents about her relationship with Ruby, and her intentions to become a full-fledged huntress. To shrug off the shackles of an imminent arranged marriage, to take control of her own life and do what _she_ wanted to do. Ruby gave her the strength to do that. The strength, and more than that, the _reason_ she needed to confront her parents. She'd never had a real reason to stand up to them, no real cause to risk their wrath. Nothing that could possibly be worth the consequences. Until Ruby. Ruby was worth it.

She figured at best she would be removed from the family, and lose all the privileges and bottomless sums of money that came with it. At worst... Would they lock her up in her room? Would they keep her there, the proverbial princess locked away in the tallest tower of the castle? And what would they do to Ruby? She wondered which would anger them most. The fact that she was dating a commoner with no future and no social standing, or the fact that she was dating a girl.

Her worry must have shown on her face, because Ruby reached over and touched her hands, which were folded across her lap.

"You gonna be okay?" Ruby asked.

Ruby. Her partner. Ruby, the girl who had shown her how to live; how to laugh. The girl who had shown her how to love. The girl who had shown her a hidden strength inside that she never knew she had. Strength enough to stand up to her parents, her rulers, the _tyrants_ that had dictated every aspect of her life for the past twenty-one years. Would she be okay? She looked at Ruby, at her beloved who was smiling at her with more warmth and love than anyone ever had. Than anyone ever would.

"You know what Ruby? I think I will be," she said, and smiled back. "I think I will be."

The brunette leaned back. "Hey Weiss, weird question, but do you know how close we came to not meeting?"

"What do you mean?"

"A crack in the sidewalk."

"...What? I don't follow."

Ruby grinned, and leaned forward. "Alright so, the night Ozpin accepted me into Vale, I was walking down the street, heading home after seeing a movie. I was listening to music on my headphones, and I wasn't really paying attention so I tripped on this just completely random crack in the sidewalk. I almost fell." She chuckled. "Maybe I really am a klutz."

Weiss smiled. "As if that wasn't already evident."

"So anyway, I almost trip, and it knocks me out of this little trance I get into while I'm walking and listening to music. So all of a sudden I snap out of that trance and actually look around, you know like, _really_ look around. And there's this random dust store I've never seen before with some new weapons magazines in the window. And I figure, hey, why not go in and check it out? Not like I've got anything better to do."

"Wait," Weiss asked, "is that the store where you fought Torchwick, met Ozpin, and got accepted into Beacon?"

Ruby grinned. "Yeap," popping the 'p'.

"So... if you hadn't tripped on that crack in the sidewalk..."

"Exactly. I'd have never gone in the store, never met Ozpin, never got into Beacon, and probably, never met _you_."

Weiss stared at her partner, trying to find some uplifting message or encouragement in Ruby's story, but failing. "Well... do you have a point? I mean honestly, that kind of makes me nervous. That we came so close to never meeting, I mean."

"Do you believe in fate? Or, or destiny?" Ruby asked.

Weiss frowned in contemplation. Then: "No, I don't think I do. I think we make our own choices, that we create our own path through life. If destiny was real, then mine is just to take over Schnee Dust, and run the company just like my father did. If destiny was real, I'd marry some random man with good social standing and a lot of money. If destiny was real... I don't think we'd be together."

Ruby nodded. "That actually makes a lot of sense. I honestly like to believe that we're fated to reach certain points in our lives, that it's our destiny to have to make certain choices and decisions. But I like to think that the choices we make, and the consequences we live with are completely our own."

Weiss couldn't help but smile at her naivety. "That's a pretty idealistic view of life."

Ruby smiled back. "Better than the alternative though, huh?"

"The alternative?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah you know, like it being your destiny to take over Schnee Dust. I think you're fated to make the choice, to take it over or not. But I believe the choice is completely up to you."

"That's... interesting," Weiss said. She rested her chin on her palm. "You know, thinking about it like that... it doesn't seem so bad all of a sudden. This is going to be hard. No way around it. And it probably won't end well."

Ruby reached over and took her hand. "Well you know whatever happens, I'll still be here. If they disown you or whatever, we can just go live in some cool log cabin in the mountains or something. Just be huntresses, ya know?"

Weiss smiled. "That doesn't sound too bad, y_a know_?"

"Hey, don't mock me!"

"Well someone has to. Might as well be me."

Ruby frowned in mock hurt and folded her arms across her chest. "Man, you can be such a jerk sometimes. Here I am trying to be all nice, and you go and make fun of the way I talk." A small grin broke through the frown though, Ruby was never very good at frowning.

"Well maybe you should change your speech patterns then," Weiss said in mock anger. "Maybe stop talking like a brain-dead teenager."

"But I _am_ a teenager still!"

"Oh that's right," Weiss chucked, "I forgot. I'm partners with a brain-dead teenager who should have just graduated from Signal."

"And I'm partners with a stuck-up jerk who thinks money solves everything."

Weiss smiled at her, mouthing the words 'I love you,' so that the men listening in wouldn't hear.

Ruby grinned and leaned back into the seat. She mouthed the words back.

"But seriously Ruby, thank you for saving my life tonight."

The brunette shrugged. "When I told you I'd never let you go, I meant it."

Weiss' smile grew, despite the pain in her side and leg. "I know."

And as they spoke, the black limousine glided through the dark, drawing ever closer to White Castle. Closer, closer, closer.

* * *

_**The lyrics at the beginning are from 'Dreams' by We Came As Romans. Leave a review, if you feel so inclined. It always makes my day.**_


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